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ECHOES   FROM 

THE    ORIENT 


A  BROAD  OUTLINE 


OF    THEOSOPHICAL    DOCTRINES. 


BY 


WILLIAM   Q.  JUDGE. 

[OCCULTUS.tj 

Reprinted  from  Kate  Field's  Washington. 


-^■^   OP  THR 

'USIVERSIT7] 


The  Aryan  Press, 


Unh:^ 


NEW   YORK: 

The  Path,  132  Nassau  St. 
1890. 


[^  L     >J   \S  ^ 


jf 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1890,  in  the 

Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 

D.  C,  by  Wii.i.iAM  Q.  Judge. 


^:z 


f/, 


DEDICATED    lO 

Helena  Petrovna  Blavatsky 

WITH    love 

AND    GRATITUDE 

BY 

THE  AUTHOR. 


Antecedent  Words. 

'T'he  title  for  these  articles  was  chosen  by  Miss  Kate 
^  Field  when  they  were  first  sent  for  publication 
in  her  new  paper,  Kate  Field's  Washington^  in  Jan- 
uary, 1890,  and  to  her  belongs  all  the  credit  for  an 
appropriate  name.  The  use  of  the  710m  de  plume  ' '  Oc- 
cultus"  was  also  the  suggestion  of  Miss  Field,  since 
it  was  intended  that  the  personality  of  the  author 
should  be  hidden  until  the  series  was  completed. 

The  restrictions  upon  the  treatment  of  the  subject 
growing  out  of  the  popular  character  of  the  paper  in 
which  they  were  published  precluded  the  detail  and 
elaboration  that  would  have  been  possible  in  a  phil- 
osophical or  religious  periodical.  No  pretense  is 
made  that  the  subject  of  Theosophy  as  understood  in 
the  Orient  has  been  exhaustively  treated,  for,  be- 
lieving that  millions  of  years  have  been  devoted  by 
the  sages  who  are  the  guardians  of  Theosophical 
truth  to  its  investigation,  I  think  no  one  writer  could 
do  more  than  to  repeat  some  of  the  echoes  reaching 
his  ears. 

William  Q.  Judge. 
New   York^  September^  1890. 


w^ 


CHOES   FROM   THE    l^RIENT. 


HAT  appears  to  the  Western  mind  to  be  a  very 
strange  superstition  prevails  in  India  about 
wonderful  persons  who  are  said  to  be  of  immense 
age,  and  who  keep  themselves  secluded  in  places  not 
accessible  to  the  ordinary  traveler.  So  long  has  this 
been  current  in  India  that  the  name  applied  to  these 
beings  is  well  known  in  the  Sanskrit  language:  "  Ma- 
hatma,"  a  compound  of  two  words,  maha^  great,  and 
dtina^  soul.  The  belief  in  the  existence  of  such  per- 
sons is  not  confined  to  the  ignorant,  but  is  shared  by 
the  educated  of  all  castes.  The  lower  classes  look 
upon  the  Mahatmas  as  a  sort  of  gods,  and  think  most 
of  their  wonderful  powers  and  great  age.  The  pun- 
dits, or  learned  class,  and  educated  Hindiis  in  gen- 
eral, have  a  different  view ;  they  say  that  Mahatmas 
are  men  or  souls  with  unlimited  knowledge  of  nat- 
ural laws  and  of  man's  history  and  development. 
They  claim  also  that  the  Mahatmas — or  Rishees,  as 
they  sometimes  call  them — have  preserved  the  know- 
ledge of  all  natural  laws  for  ages,  not  only  by  tradi- 
tion among  their  disciples,  but  also  by  actual  records 
and  in  libraries  existing  somewhere  in  the  many  un- 
derground temples  and  passages  in  India.  Some  be- 
lievers assert  that  there  are  also  stores  of  books  and 
records  in  secluded  parts  all  over  that  part  of  Thibet 
which  is  not  known  to  Europeans,  access  to  them  be- 
ing possible  only  for  the  Mahatmas  and  Adepts. 

The  credence  given  to  such  a  universal   theory 
grows  out  of  an  old  Indian  doctrine  that  man  is  a 


2  ECHOES  FROM    THE   ORIENT. 

Spiritual  being — a  soul,  in  other  words — and  that  this 
soul  takes  on  different  bodies  from  life  to  life  on  earth 
in  order  at  last  to  arrive  at  such  perfect  knowledge, 
through  repeated  experience,  as  to  enable  one  to  as- 
sume a  body  fit  to  be  the  dwelling-place  of  a  Mahat- 
ma  or  perfected  soul.  Then,  they  say,  that  partic- 
ular soul  becomes  a  spiritual  helper  to  mankind.  The 
perfected  men  are  said  to  know  the  truth  about  the 
genesis  of  worlds  and  systems,  as  well  as  the  develop- 
ment of  man  upon  this  and  other  planets. 

Were  such  doctrines  held  only  in  India,  it  would 
be  natural  to  pass  the  subject  by  with  this  brief  men- 
tion. But  when  it  is  found  that  a  large  body  of  peo- 
ple in  America  and  Europe  hold  the  same  beliefs,  it 
is  interesting  to  note  such  an  un- Western  develop- 
ment of  thought.  The  Theosophical  Society  was 
founded  in  New  York  in  1875,  with  the  avowed  ob- 
ject of  forming  a  nucleus  for  a  Universal  Brother- 
hood, and  its  founders  state  that  they  believe  the 
Indian  Mahatmas  directed  them  to  establish  such  a 
society.  Since  its  foundation  it  has  gained  members 
in  all  countries,  including  people  of  wealth  as  well 
as  those  in  moderate  circumstances,  and  the  highly 
cultured  also.  Within  its  ranks  there  flourish  beliefs 
in  the  Mahatmas  of  India  and  in  Reifncarnation  and 
its  twin  doctrine,  Karma.  This  last  holds  that  no 
power,  human  or  divine,  can  save  one  from  the  con- 
sequences of  acts  performed,  and  that  in  this  life  we 
are  experiencing  the  results  due  to  us  for  all  acts  and 
thoughts  which  were  ours  in  the  preceding  incarna- 
tion. 

This  has  brought  out  a  large  body  of  literature  in 
books  and  magazines  published  in  the  United  States, 
England,  India,  and  elsewhere.  Newspapers  are  pub- 
lished in  the  interest  of  the  new-old  cult  in  the  vernac- 
ular of  Hindiistan  and  also  in  old  Ceylon.  Even  Jap- 
an has  its  periodicals  devoted  to  the  same  end,  and  to 
ignore  so  wide-spread  a  movement  would  bespeak 


ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT.  3 

ignorance  of  the  factors  at  work  in  our  development. 
When  such  an  eminent  authority  as  the  great  French 
savant,  Emile  Bournouf,  says  that  the  Theosophical 
movement  must  be  counted  as  one  of  the  three  great 
religious  influences  in  the  world  to-day,  there  is  no 
need  of  an  excuse  for  presenting  its  features  in  de- 
tail to  readers  imbued  with  the  civilization  of  the 
West. 


J  N  my  former  paper  I  merely  hinted  at  the  two  princi- 
pal doctrines  promulgated  by  the  Theosophical  So- 
ciety ;  it  is  well  now  to  notice  the  fact  that  the  Society 
itself  was  organized  amid  a  shout  of  laughter,  which 
at  intervals  ever  since  has  been  repeated.  Very 
soon  after  it  launched  forth,  its  president.  Col.  H.  S. 
Olcott,  who  during  our  late  war  was  a  familiar  figure 
in  Washington,  found  a  new  member  in  Baron  Henry 
Louis  de  Palm,  who  died  and  obligingly  left  his  body 
to  the  Colonel  to  be  cremated.  The  funeral  was 
'held  at  Masonic  Hall,  New  York,  and  attracted  great 
attention.  It  was  Theosophical  in  its  character.  Col. 
Olcott  presided,  a  Spiritualist  offered  an  invocation, 
and  a  Materialist  read  a  service.  All  this,  of  course, 
drew  forth  satire  from  the  press,  but  served  the  pur- 
pose of  gaining  some  attention  for  the  young  Society. 
Its  history  since  then  has  been  remarkable,  and  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  no  other  similar  body  in  this  century 
has  drawn  to  itself  so  much  consideration,  stirred  up 
such  a  thinking  among  people  on  mystical  subjects, 
and  grown  so  rapidly  amid  the  loudest  derision  and 
against  the  fiercest  opposition,  within  the  short  space 
of  fifteen  years. 

While  the  press  has  been  sneering  and  enemies 
have  been  plotting,  the  workers  in  the  Society  have 
established  centers  all  over  the  world,  and  are  to-day 
engaged  persistently  in  sending  out  Theosophical  lit- 
erature into  every  nook  and  comer  of   the  United 


4  ECHOES   FROM    THE   ORIENT. 

States.  A  glance  at  the  Theosophical  map  shows  a 
line  of  Branches  of  the  Society  dotting  a  strip  of 
this  country  which  reaches  from  the  city  of  New 
York  to  the  Pacific  Coast;  at  either  end  this  belt 
spreads  out  to  take  in  Boston  and  New  Orleans  in  the 
East  and  San  Francisco  and  San  Diego  in  the  West ; 
while  near  the  middle  of  the  continent  there  is  an- 
other accumulation  of  centers.  This  is  claimed  to  be 
strictly  and  mystically  Theosophical,  because  at  each 
end  of  the  magic  line  of  effort  and  at  its  central 
point  their  is  an  accumulation  of  nuclei*.  It  is  a  fact 
that  the  branches  of  the  Society  in  America  are  rap- 
idly running  up  into  the  first  hundred.  For  some 
little  time  there  existed  in  Washington  a  Branch  of 
the  Society  called  the  Gnostic,  but  it  never  engaged 
in  any  active  work.  After  it  had  been  once  incontin- 
ently dissolved  by  its  president,  who  thereafter  with- 
drew, leaving  the  presidency  in  the  hands  of  another, 
the  governing  body  of  the  American  Theosophists 
formally  dischartered  the  Gnostic,  and  its  members 
joined  other  Branches.  There  is,  however,  to-day  aS 
Washington  Branch  named  boldly  after  the  much 
lauded  and  belittled  Mme.  H.  P.  Blavatsky,  while 
the  Theosophical  map  shows  an  accumulation  of  in- 
fluences in  Washington  that  point  to  an  additional 
Branch,  and  inquiry  in  official  quarters  discloses  the 
fact  that  the  matter  is  already  mooted. 

The  Theosophical  map  of  which  I  have  spoken  is 
a  curiosity,  an  anomaly  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
Few  of  the  members  are  allowed  to  see  it ;  but  those 
who  are  say  that  it  is  a  register  of  the  actual  state, 
day  by  day,  of  the  whole  United  States  Section — a 
sort  of  weather  map,  with  areas  of  pressure  and  Theo- 
sophical humidity  in  all  directions.  Where  a  Branch 
is  well  founded  and  in  good  condition,  the  spot  or 
sensitive  surface  shows  clearness  and  fixity.  In  cer- 
tain places  which  are  in  a  formative  condition  there 
is  another  appearance  symptomatic  of  a  vortex  that 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  5 

may  soon  bring  forth  a  Branch ;  while,  wherever  the 
principle  of  disintegration  has  crept  into  an  existing 
organization,  there  the  formerly  bright  and  fixed 
spots  grow  cloudy.  By  means  of  this  map,  those 
who  are  managing  the  real  growth  of  the  movement 
can  tell  how  it  is  going  and  aid  it  intelligently.  Of 
course  all  this  sounds  ridiculous  in  our  age;  but, 
whether  true  or  false,  there  are  many  Theosophists 
who  believe  it.  A  similar  arrangement  would  be  de- 
sirable in  other  branches  of  our  civilization. 

The  grand  theories  of  the  Theosophists  regarding 
evolution,  human  races,  religions  and  general  civil- 
ation,  as  well  as  the  future  state  of  man  and  the 
various  planets  he  inhabits,  should  engage  our  more 
serious  attention ;  and  of  these  I  propose  to  speak  at 
another  time. 

III. 

^HE  first  Echo  from  the  burnished  and  mysterious 
^  East  which  reverberated  from  these  pages  sound- 
ed the  note  of  Universal  Brotherhood.  Among  the 
men  of  this  day  such  an  idea  is  generally  accepted  as 
vague  and  Utopian,  but  one  which  it  will  do  no  harm 
to  subscribe  to ;  they  therefore  quickly  assent,  and  as 
quickly  nullify  the  profession  by  action  in  the  opposite 
direction.  For  the  civilization  of  to-day,  and  especi- 
ally of  the  United  States,  is  an  attempt  to  accentuate 
and  glorify  the  individual.  The  oft-repeated  declara- 
tion that  any  born  citizen  may  aspire  to  occupy  the 
highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  nation  is  proof  of  this, 
and  the  Mahatmas  who  guard  the  truth  through  the 
ages  while  nations  are  decaying,  assert  that  the  re- 1 
action  is  sure  to  come  in  a  relapse  into  the  worst  forms  * 
of  anarchy.  The  only  way  to  prevent  such  a  relapse 
is  for  men  to  really  practice  the  Universal  Brother- 
hood they  are  willing  to  accept  with  the  tongue. 
These  exalted  beings  further  say  that  all  men  are — 
as  a  scientific  and  dynamic  fact — united,  whether  they 


6  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

admit  it  or  not ;  and  that  each  nation  suffers,  on  the 
moral  as  well  as  the  physical  plane,  from  the  faults 
of  all  other  nations,  and  receives  benefit  from  the 
others  also  even  against  its  will.  This  is  due  to  the 
existence  of  an  imponderable,  tenuous  medium  which 
interpenetrates  the  entire  globe,  and  in  which  all  the 
acts  and  thoughts  of  every  man  are  felt  and  impressed, 
to  be  afterward  reflected  again.  Hence,  say  the 
Adepts,  the  thoughts  or  the  doctrines  and  beliefs  of 
men  are  of  the  higher  importance,  because  those  that 
prevail  among  people  of  a  low  character  are  just  as 
much  and  as  easily  reflected  upon  the  earth  as  are 
the  thoughts  and  beliefs  of  persons  occupying  a  high- 
er plane  of  culture. 

This  is  a  most  important  tenet,  if  true ;  for,  with 
the  aid  of  the  discoveries  just  now  admitted  by  science 
respecting  hypnotism,  we  are  at  once  able  to  see  that 
an  enormous  hypnotizing  machine  is  about.  As  this 
tenuous  medium — called  by  the  men  of  the  East 
'^Akasa"  and  by  the  mediaeval  philosophers  the 
"Astral  Light" — is  entirely  beyond  our  control,  we 
are  at  the  mercy  of  the  pictures  made  in  it  and  re- 
flected upon  us. 

If  to  this  we  add  the  wonderfully  interesting  doc- 
trine of  Reincarnation,  remembering  also  that  the 
images  made  in  the  Astral  Light  persist  for  centuries, 
it  is  at  once  seen  that  upon  returning  again  to  earth- 
life  we  are  affected  for  good  or  evil  by  the  conduct, 
the  doctrine  and  the  aspirations  of  preceding  nations 
and  men.  Returning  here  now,  for  instance,  we  are 
moved,  without  our  knowledge,  by  the  impressions 
made  in  the  Astral  Light  at  the  time  when  the  In- 
dians, the  Spaniards  and  the  harsh  Puritans  lived  up- 
on the  earth.  The  words  of  the  immortal  Shakspere— 
The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them ; 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones, 

receive  a  striking  exemplification  under  this  doctrine. 
For,  as  the  evil  thoughts  and  deeds  are  the  more 


ECHOES   FROM    THE   ORIENT.  7 

material  and  therefore  more  firmly  impacted  into  the 
Astral  Light,  while  the  good,  being  spiritual,  easily 
fade  out,  we  are  in  effect  at  the  mercy  of  the  evil 
done.  And  the  Adepts  assert  that  Shakspere  was,- 
unconsciously  to  himself,  inspired  by  one  of  their  own 
number.  I  shall  refer  again  to  this  branch  of  the 
subject.  The  scheme  of  evolution  put  forth  by  these 
beings  and  their  disciples  is  so  broad,  deep  and  far- 
reaching  as  to  stagger  the  ordinary  mind.  It  takes 
in  with  ease  periods  of  years  runliihg  up  into  trillions 
and  quadrillions.  It  claims  that  man  has  been  on 
earth  for  millions  of  years  more  than  science  yet  is 
willing  to  admit.  It  is  not  bound  by  the  narrow 
scheme  of  biblical  chronologists,  nor  startled  by  the 
magnificent  age  of  civilizations  which  disappeared  long 
ago.  The  keepers  of  this  doctrine  say  that  they  and 
their  predecessors  lived  in  those  older  times,  and  have 
preserved  not  only  the  memory  of  them,  but  also 
complete  records.  These  records,  moreover,  are  not 
merely  on  perishable  paper  and  palm  leaf,  but  on  im- 
perishable stone.  They  point  to  such  remains  as 
the  statues  twenty-seven  feet  high  found  on  Easter 
Island ;  to  rows  of  gigantic  statues  in  Asia,  that  by 
their  varying  heights  show  the  gradual  diminution  of 
human  stature,  which  kept  pace  with  other  degener- 
ations ;  and,  to  crown  all,  they  say  that  they  possess 
to-day  in  the  East  the  immense  and  well  guarded 
collections  of  records  of  all  sorts.  Not  only  are  these 
1  records  said  to  relate  to  the  physical  history  of  man, 
but  also  to  his  astral  and  spiritual  evolution. 

Before  closing  this  paper,  I  can  only  indicate  one 
of  their  basic  doctrines  in  the  scheme  of  evolution. 
That  is,  that  the  evolution  of  the  inner,  astral  form 
of  man  came  first  in  order,  and  continued  for  an  im- 
mense number  of  years  before  his  physical  structure 
was  built  up  around  it.  This,  with  other  portions  of 
the  doctrine,  is  vital  and  w411  aid  much  in  an  under- 
standing of  the  complex  questions  presented  to  us  by 


8  ECHOES   FROM    THE   ORIENT. 

the  history  of  the  human  race,  both  that  which  is 
known  and  that  which  is  still  resting  on  conjecture. 

IV. 

T^HE  records  to  which  in  my  last  paper  I  referred, 
■^  as  having-  been  kept  by  the  Adepts  and  now  in 
the  possession  of  their  present  representatives  and 
successors — Adepts  also — relate  not  only  to  the  birth 
of  planets  in  this  solar  system,  but  also  to  the  evolu- 
tion and  development  of  man,  through  the  various 
kingdoms  of  nature,  until  he  reaches  the  most  per- 
fect condition  which  can  be  imagined.  The  evolu- 
tion of  the  human  being  includes  not  only  the  genesis 
of  his  mortal  frame,  but,  as  well,  the  history  of  the 
inner  man,  whom  they  are  accustomed  to  call  the 
real  one. 

This,  then,  brings  us  to  a  very  interesting  claim 
put  forward  for  the  Wisdom  Religion,  that  it  pre-' 
tends  to  throw  light  not  only  upon  man's  emotions 
and  mental  faculties,  but  also  upon  his  pre-natal  and 
post-mortem  states,  both  of  which  are  of  the  high- 
est interest  and  importance.  Such  questions  as, 
"Where  have  I  come  from?"  and,  "What  shall  be 
my  condition  after  death?"  trouble  and  confuse  the 
minds  of  all  men,  ignorant  or  cultured.  Priests  and 
thinkers  have,  from  time  to  time,  formulated  the- 
ories, more  or  less  absurd,  as  to  those  pre-natal  and 
post-mortem  states,  while  the  Science  of  to-day 
laughs  in  derision  at  the  idea  of  making  any  inquiry 
into  the  matter  whatever.  Theologians  have  offered 
explanations,  all  of  which  relate  only  to  what  they 
suppose  will  happen  to  us  after  death,  leaving  en- 
tirely out  of  view  and  wholly  unanswered  the  natural 
question,  "What  were  we  before  we  were  born 
here?"  And,  taking  them  on  their  own  ground, 
they  are  in  a  most  illogical  position,  because,  having 
once  postulated  immortality  for  the  soul — the  real 
man — they  cannot  deny  immortality  in  either  direc- 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  9 

tion.  If  man  is  immortal,  that  immortality  could 
never  have  had  a  beginning,  or  else  it  would  have  an 
end.  Hence  their  only  escape  from  the  dilemma  is 
to  declare  that  each  soul  is  a  special  creation.  But 
this  doctrine  of  a  special  creation  for  each  soul  born 
upon  the  earth,  is  not  dwelt  upon  or  expounded  by 
the  priests,  inasmuch  as  it  is  deemed  better  to  keep  it 
discreetly  in  the  background. 

The  Wisdom  Religion,  on  the  other  hand,  rem_aiiis 
Ipg^cal  from  beginning  to  end.  It  declares  that 
man  is  a  spiritual  being,  and  allows  of  no  break 
in  the  chain  of  anything  once  declared  immortal. 
The  Ego  of  each  man  is  immortal;  "always  was 
existent,  always  will  be,  and  never  can  be  non- 
existent;" appearing  now  and  again,  and  reappear- 
ing, clothed  in  bodies  on  each  occasion  different,  it 
only  appears  to  be  mortal ;  it  always  remains  the  sub- 
stratum and  support  for  the  personality  acting  upon 
the  stage  of  life.  And  in  those  appearances  as 
mortal,  the  questions  mooted  above — as  to  the  pre- 
natal and  post-mortem  states — are  of  vital  interest, 
because  knowledge  or  ignorance  concerning  them  al- 
ters man's  thought  and  action  while  an  actor  on  the 
stage,  and  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  know  in  order 
that  he  may  so  live  as  to  aid  in  the  grand  upward 
sweep  of  the  evolutionary  wave. 

Now  the  Adepts  have  for  ages  pursued  scientific 
experimentation  and  investigation  upon  those  lines. 
Seers  themselves  of  the  highest  order,  they  have  re- 
corded not  only  their  own  actual  experiences  beyond 
the  veil  of  matter,  on  both  sides,  but  have  collected, 
compared,  analyzed  and  preserved  the  records  of  ex- 
periences of  the  same  sort  by  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  lesser  seers,  their  own  disciples ;  and  this  process 
has  been  going  on  from  time  immemorial.  Let 
Science  laugh  as  it  may,  the  Adepts  are  the_oiilyi 
true  scientists,  for  they  take  into  account  every  fac-i 
tor  in  the  question,   whereas  Science  is  limited  byl 


lO  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

brain-power,  by  circumstance,  by  imperfection  of  in- 
struments, and  by  a  total  inability  to  perceive  any- 
thing- deeper  than  the  mere  phenomena  presented  by 
matter.  The  records  of  the  visions  and  experiences 
of  the  greater  and  lesser  seers,  through  the  ages, 
are  extant  to-day.  Of  their  mass,  nothing  has  been 
accepted  except  that  which  has  been  checked  and 
verified  by  millions  of  independent  observations ;  and 
therefore  the  Adepts  stand  in  the  position  of  those 
who  possess  actual  experimental  knowledge  of  what 
precedes  the  birth  of  the  Ego  in  a  human  form,  and 
what  succeeds  when  the  "mortal  coil "  is  cast  away. 
This  recording  of  experiences  still  g-oes  on ;  for  the 
infinity  of  the  changes  of  Nature  in  its  evolution  per- 
mits of  no  stoppage,  no  "last  word,"  no  final  dec- 
laration. As  the  earth  sweeps  around  the  sun,  it  not 
only  passes  through  new  places  in  its  orbit,  but, 
dragged  as  it  is  by  the  sun  through  his  greater  orbit, 
involving  millions  of  millions  of  years,  it  must  in  that 
larger  circle  enter  upon  new  fields  in  space  and  un- 
precedented conditions.  Hence  the  Adepts  go  far-' 
ther  yet  and  state  that,  as  the  phenomena  presented! 
by  matter  to-day  are  different  from  those  presented  a| 
million  years  ago,  so  matter  will  in  another  million! 
of  years  show  different  phenomena  still.  Indeed, 
if  we  could  translate  our  sight  to  that  time,  far  back 
in  the  past  of  our  globe,  we  could  see  conditions  and 
phenomena  of  the  material  world  so  different  from 
those  now  surrounding  us  that  it  would  be  almost 
impossible  to  believe  we  had  ever  been  in  such  a 
state  as  that  then  prevailing.  And  the  changes 
toward  the  conditions  that  will  prevail  at  a  point 
equally  remote  in  advance  of  us,  in  time,  and  which 
will  be  not  less  than  those  that  have  occurred,  are  in 
progress  now.  Nothing  in  the  material  world  en- 
dures absolutely  unchanged  in  itself  or  its  conditions, 
even  for  the  smallest  conceivable  portion  of  time. 
All  that  />,  is  forever  in  process  of  becoming  something 


ECHOES    FROM     THE    ORIENT.  II 

else.  This  is  not  mere  transcendentalism,  but  is  an 
old  established  doctrine  called,  in  the  East,  "the doc- 
trine of  the  constant,  eternal  change  of  atoms  from 
one  state  into  another." 

V. 

npHE  ancient  doctrine  of  the  constant,  eternal  change 
^  of  every  atom  from  state  to  state,  is  founded 
upon,  or  rather  grows  out  of,  another  which  postu- 
lates that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  dead  matter.  At 
every  conceivable  point  in  the  universe  there  are  lives ; 
nowhere  can  be  found  a  spot  that  is  dead ;  and  each 
life  is  forever  hastening  onward  to  higher  evolution. 
To  admit  this,  we  must  of  course  grant  that  matter 
is  never  perceived  by  the  eye  or  through  any  instru- 
ment. It  is  but  the  phenomena  of  matter  that  we 
recognize  with  the  senses,  and  hence,  say  the  sages, 
the  thing  denominated  "matter"  by  us  is  an  illu- 
sion. Even  the  protoplasm  of  the  schools  is  not  the 
original  matter ;  it  is  simply  another  of  the  phenom- 
ena. This  first  original  matter  is  called  by  Paracelsus 
and  others  primordial  matter,  the  nearest  approach 
to  which  in  the  Eastern  school  is  found  in  the  Sans- 
krit word  viidaprakriti.  This  is  the  root  of  matter, 
invisible,  not  to  be  weighed,  or  measured,  or  tested 
with  any  instrument  of  human  invention.  And  yet 
it  is  the  only  real  matter  underlying  all  the  phenom- 
ena to  which  we  erroneously  give  its  name.  But  even 
it  is  not  dead,  but  full  of  the  lives  first  referred  to. 
Now,  bearing  this  in  mind,  w^e  consider  the  vast 
solar  system,  yet  vast  only  when  not  compared  with 
the  still  greater  aggregation  of  stars  and  planets 
around  it.  The  great  sidereal  year  covered  by  the 
sun  in  going  through  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac 
includes  over  25,000  mortal  years  of  365  days  each. 
While  this  immense  circuit  is  being  traversed,  the 
sun  drags  the  whole  solar  system  with  him  around 
his  own  tremendous  orbit,  and  we  may  imagine — for 


12  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

there  are  no  observations  on  the  point — that,  while 
the  25,000  years  of  travel  around  the  zodiac  have 
been  passing,  the  solar  system  as  a  whole  has  ad- 
vanced along  the  sun's  own  orbit  only  a  little  distance. 
But  after  millions  of  years  shall  have  been  consumed 
in  these  progresses,  the  sun  must  bring  his  train  of 
planets  to  stellar  space  where  they  have  never  been 
before;  here  other  conditions  and  combinations  of 
matter  may  very  well  obtain — conditions  and  states 
of  which  our  scientists  have  never  heard,  of  which 
there  never  has  been  recorded  one  single  phenom- 
enon; and  the  difference  between  planetary  condi- 
tions then  and  now  will  be  so  great  that  no  resem- 
blance shall  be  observed. 

This  is  a  branch  of  cyclic  law  with  which  the 
Eastern  sages  are  perfectly  familiar.  They  have  in- 
quired into  it,  recorded  their  observations,  and  pre- 
served them.  Having  watched  the  uncountable  lives 
during  cycles  upon  cycles  past,  and  seen  their  be- 
havior under  different  conditions  in  other  stellar 
spaces  long  ago  left  behind,  they  have  some  basis 
upon  which  to  draw  conclusions  as  to  what  will  be 
the  state  of  things  in  ages  yet  to  come. 

This  brings  us  to  an  interesting  theory  offered  by 
Theosophy  respecting  life  itself  as  exhibited  by  man, 
his  death  and  sleep.  It  relates  also  to  what  is  gen- 
erally called  "fatigue."  The  most  usual  explana- 
tion for  the  phenomenon  of  sleep  is  that  the  body 
becomes  tired  and  more  or  less  depleted  of  its  vital- 
ity and  then  seeks  repose.  This,  says  Theosophy,  is 
just  the  opposite  of  the  truth,  for,  instead  of  having 
suffered  a  loss  of  vitality,  the  body,  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  day,  has  more  life  in  it  than  when  it  waked. 
During  the  waking  state  the  life-waves  rush  into  the 
body  with  greater  intensity  every  hour,  and,  we  be- 
ing unable  to  resist  them  any  longer  than  the  period 
usually  observed,  they  overpower  us  and  we  fall 
asleep.     While  sleeping,   the  life  waves  adjust  them- 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  I3 

selves  to  the  molecules  of  the  body;  and  when  the 
equilibrium  is  complete  we  again  wake  to  continue 
the  contest  with  life.  If  this  periodical  adjustment 
did  not  occur,  the  life  current  w^ould  destroy  us.  Any 
derangement  of  the  body  that  tends  to  inhibit  this 
adjustment  is  a  cause  of  sleeplessness,  and  perhaps 
death.  Finally,  death  of  the  body  is  due  to  the  in- 
equality of  the  contest  with  the  life  force ;  it  at  last 
overcomes  us,  and  we  are  compelled  to  sink  into  the 
grave.  Disease,  the  common  property  of  the  human 
race,  only  reduces  the  power  of  the  body  to  adjust 
and  resist.  Children,  say  the  Adepts,  sleep  more 
than  adults,  and  need  earlier  repose,  because  the 
bodily  machine,  being  young  and  tender,  is  easily 
overcome  by  life  and  made  to  sleep. 

Of  course,  in  so  short  an  article,  I  cannot  elaborate 
this  theory;  but,  although  not  probably  acceptable 
now  to  Science,  it  will  be  one  day  accepted  as  true. 
As  it  is  beginning  to  be  thought  that  electricity  is 
all-pervading,  so,  perhaps,  ere  long  it  will  be  agreed 
that  life  is  universal  even  in  what  we  are  used  to  call- 
ing dead  matter. 

As,  how^ever,  it  is  plain  to  any  observant  mind  that 
there  seems  to  be  more  or  less  intelligence  in  the 
operations  of  this  life  energy,  we  naturally  approach 
another  interesting  Theosophical  doctrine  as  to  the 
beings  and  hierarchies  directing  this  energy. 

VI. 

\A/hile  studying  these  ancient  ideas,  we  may  as 
^  '  well  prepare  ourselves  to  have  them  clash  with 
many  long-accepted  views.  But  since  Science  has 
very  little  save  conjecture  to  offer  when  it  attempts 
to  solve  the  great  problems  of  genesis  and  cosmo- 
genesis,  and,  in  the  act  of  denying  old  dogmas,  al- 
most always  starts  with  a  hypothesis,  the  Theosophist 
may  feel  safe.  In  important  matters,  such  as  the 
heat  of  the  sun  or  the  history  of  the  moon  there  is 


14  ECHOES    FROM     THE    ORIENT. 

no  agreement  between  scientists  or  astronomers. 
Newton,  Pouillet,  Zollner,  Secchi,  Fizcau,  Waterston, 
Rosetti,  and  others  all  differ  about  the  sun,  the  di- 
vergence between  their  estimates  of  its  heat  being 
as  high  as  8,998,600  degrees. 

If  we  find  the  Adepts  stating  that  the  moon  is  not 
a  mass  thrown  off  from  the  earth  in  cooling,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  is  the  progenitor  of  this  globe,  we  need 
not  fear  the  jeers  of  a  Science  that  is  as  imcertain 
and  unsafe  in  many  things  as  it  is  positive. 

Had  I  to  deal  only  with  those  learned  men  of  the 
schools  who  abide  by  the  last  utterance  from  the 
mouths  of  the  leaders  of  Science,  I  should  never  at- 
tempt the  task  of  speaking  of  the  beings  and  hierar- 
chies who  guide  the  lives  of  which  I  wrote  in  my 
last.  My  pen  would  drop  from  a  hand  paralyzed  by 
negations.  But  the  spiritual  beliefs  of  the  common 
people  will  still  be  in  vogue  when  the  learned  mater- 
ialist has  passed  away.  The  great  Immanuel  Kant 
said :  ' '  I  confess  I  am  much  disposed  to  assert  the 
existence  of  immaterial  natures  in  the  world,  and  to 
place  my  own  soul  in  the  class  of  these  beings.  It 
will  hereafter,  I  know  not  where  nor  when,  yet  be 
proved  that  the  human  soul  stands,  even  in  this  life, 
in  indissoluble  connection  with  all  immaterial  natures 
in  the  spirit  world,  that  it  reciprocally  acts  upon 
these,  and  receives  impressions  from  them."  And 
the  greater  number  of  men  think  so  also. 

That  there  are  hierarchies  ruling  in  the  universe  is 
not  a  new  idea.  It  can  be  easily  found  to-day  in  the 
Christian  Church.  The  early  fathers  taught  it,  St. 
Paul  spoke  of  it,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has 
it  clearly  now  in  the  Book  of  Ritual  of  the  Spirits  of 
the  Stars.  The  four  archangels  who  guard  the  four 
cardinal  points  represent  the  groups  of  rulers  in  the 
ancient  system,  or  the  heads  of  each  group.  In  that 
system  the  rulers  are  named  Dhyan  Chohans.  Al- 
though the  Theosophical  philosophy  does  not  postu- 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  15 

late  a  personal  God,  whether  extra-  or  intra-cosmic, 
it  cannot  admit  that  Nature  is  left  unaided  in  her 
work,  but  asserts  that  the  Dhyan  Chohans  aid  her, 
and  are  constantly  occupied  in  directing-  the  all-per- 
vading life  in  its  evolutionary  movement.  Mme. 
Blavatsky,  speaking  on  this  subject  in  her  Secret 
Doctrine^  quotes  from  the  old  Book  of  Dzyati  thus : 

*' An  army  of  the  Sons  of  Light  stands  at  each  an- 
gle, the  Lipika  in  the  middle  wheel." 

The  four  angels  are  the  four  quarters,  and  the 
"middle  wheel "  is  the  center  of  space;  and  that  cen- 
ter is  everywhere,  because  as  space  is  illimitable,  the 
center  of  it  must  be  wherever  the  cognizing  con- 
sciousness is.  And  the  same  author,  using  the  Dis- 
ciple's Catechis7n^  writes: 

"What  is  it  that  ever  is?  Space,  the  Anupadaka. 
What  is  it  that  ever  was?  The  germ  in  the  Root. 
What  is  it  that  is  ever  coming  and  going?  The  great 
Breath.  Then  there  are  three  eternals?  No,  the 
three  are  one.  That  which  ever  is  is  one ;  that  which 
ever  was  is  one ;  that  which  is  ever  being  and  becom- 
ing" is  also  one ;  and  this  is  space. " 

In  this  parentless  and  eternal  space  is  the  wheel  in 
the  center  where  the  Lipika  are,  of  whom  I  cannot 
speak;  at  the  four  angles  are  the  Dhyan  Chohans, 
and  doing  their  will  among  men  on  this  earth  are 
the  Adepts — the  Mahatmas.  The  harmony  of  the 
spheres  is  the  voice  of  the  Law,  and  that  voice  is 
obeyed  alike  by  the  Dhyan  Chohan  and  the  Mahatma 
— on  their  part  with  willingness,  because  they  are  the 
law ;  on  the  part  of  men  and  creatures  because  they 
are  bound  by  the  adamantine  chains  of  the  law 
which  they  do  not  understand. 

When  I  said  that  nothing  could  be  spoken  about 
the  Lipika,  I  meant  that,  because  of  their  mysterious 
nature  and  incomprehensible  powers,  it  is  not  possi- 
ble to  know  enough  to  say  anything  with  either  sense 
or  certainty.     But  of  the  Dhyan  Chohans  and  the 


l6  ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

Adepts  we  may  know  something,  and  are  often  given, 
as  it  were,  tangible  proof  of  their  existence.  For  the 
Adepts  are  living  men,  using  bodies  similar  to  ours ; 
they  are  scattered  all  over  the  earth  in  all  nations; 
they  know  each  other,  but  not  according  to  mere 
forms  and  Masonic  signs  of  recognition,  unless  we  call 
natural,  physical,  and  astral  signs  Masonic.  They 
have  times  when  they  meet  together  and  are  presided 
over  by  some  among  their  number  who  are  more  ad- 
vanced in  knowledge  and  power  than  the  rest ;  and 
these  higher  Adepts  again  h^ve  their  communica- 
tions, at  which  that  One  who  presides  is  the  highest ; 
from  these  latter  begins  the  communication  with  the 
Dhyan  Chohans.  All  in  their  several  degrees  do  that 
work  which  pertains  to  their  degree,  and  although 
only  to  the  Highest  can  be  ascribed  any  governance 
or  guidance  of  nature  and  mankind,  yet  the  very 
least  occupies  an  important  place  in  the  whole 
scheme.  Freemasons  and  the  numerous  mock-Rosi- 
crucians  of  the  day  will  probably  not  unanimously 
accept  this  view,  inasmuch  as  these  Adepts  have  not 
submitted  to  their  ritual ;  but  that  there  has  always 
been  a  widespread — and,  if  you  please,  a  sometimes 
sneaking — belief  in  such  beings  and  orders,  is  not 
difficult  to  discern  or  prove. 

VII. 

A  N  old  argument  for  the  existence  of  an  extra-cos- 
•^  mic — a  personal — God,  is  this  very  intelligence 
that  appears  to  pervade  nature,  from  which  the  con- 
clusion is  drawn  that  there  is  a  being  who  is  the  in- 
telligent director.  But  Theosophy  does  not  admit 
any  such  God,  for  he  is  neither  necessary  nor  possi- 
ble. There  are  too  many  evidences  of  implaca- 
bility in  the  operations  of  nature  for  us  to  be  able 
for  very  long  to  cherish  the  notion  of  a  personal 
God.  We  see  that  storms  will  rage  and  overwhelm 
good  and  bad  together ;  that  earthquakes  have  no  re- 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  1 7 

spect  for  age,  sex  or  rank,  and  that  wherever  a  nat- 
ural law  has  to  act  it  will  do  so  regardless  of  human 
pain  or  despair. 

The  Wisdom  Religion  in  postulating  hierarchies 
such  as  those  I  have  previously  referred  to,  does  not 
thereby  outline  a  personal  God.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  petsonal  God — say  Jehovah  for  one — and 
the  Lipika  with  the  hosts  of  the  Dhyan  Chohans,  is 
very  great.  Law  and  order,  good  sense,  decency  and 
progress  are  all  subservient  to  Jehovah,  sometimes 
disappearing  altogether  under  his  beneficent  sway; 
while  in  the  Wisdom  Religion  the  Dhyan  Chohans 
can  only  follow  the  immutable  laws  eternally  traced 
in  the  Universal  Mind,  and  this  they  do  intelligently, 
because  they  are  in  fact  men  become  gods.  As  these 
eternal  laws  are  far-reaching,  and  as  Nature  herself 
is  blind,  the  hierarchies — the  hosts  at  the  angles — 
have  to  guide  the  evolutionary  progress  of  matter. 

In  order  to  grasp  the  doctrine  better,  let  us  take  one 
period  of  manifestation  such  as  that  we  are  now  in. 
This  began  millions  of  millions  of  years  ago,  suc- 
ceeding a  vast  period  of  darkness  or  hibernation.  It 
is  called  Chaos  in  the  Christian  scheme.  And  pre- 
ceding that  period  of  sleep  there  were  eternally 
other  periods  of  activity  or  manifestation.  Now,  in 
those  prior  periods  of  energy  and  action  the  same 
evolutionary  progress  went  on,  from  and  out  of 
which  came  great  beings — men  perfected  and  be- 
come what  to  us  are  gods,  who  had  aided  in  count- 
less evolutions  in  the  eternal  past.  These  became 
Dhyan  Chohans  and  took  part  in  all  succeeding  evo- 
lutions. Such  is  the  great  goal  for  a  human  soul  to 
strive  after.  Before  it  the  paltry  and  impossible  re- 
wards of  the  Christian  heaven  turn  to  dross. 

The  mistake  must  not  be  made  of  confining  these 
great  evolutionary  periods  and  the  beings  spoken  of, 
to  our  miserable  earth.  We  are  only  in  the  chain. 
There  are  other  systems,  other  spaces  where  energy, 


1 8  ECHOES   FROM    THE   ORIENT. 

knowledge  and  power  are  exercised.  In  the  myster- 
ious Milky-Way  there  are  spots  vast  in  size  and  incom- 
prehensibly distant,  where  there  is  room  for  many 
such  systems  as  ours ;  and  even  while  we  now  watch 
the  assemblage  of  stars,  there  is  some  spot  among 
them  where  the  vast  night  of  death  is  spreading  re- 
morselessly over  a  once  fair  system. 

Now  these  beings,  under  the  sway  of  the  law  as 
they  are,  seem  perhaps  to  be  sometimes  implacable. 
Occasions  are  met  where  to  mortal  judgment  it 
would  seem  to  be  wise  or  just  to  save  a  city  from  de- 
struction, or  a  nation  from  decay,  or  a  race  from 
total  extinction.  But  if  such  a  fate  is  the  natural  re- 
sult of  actions  performed  or  a  necessary  step  in  the 
cyclic  sweep,  it  cannot  be  averted.  As  one  of  the 
Masters  of  this  noble  science  has  written : 

' '  We  never  pretended  to  be  able  to  draw  nations  in 
the  mass  to  this  or  that  crisis  in  spite  of  the  general 
drift  of  the  world* $  cosmic  relations.  The  cycles  must 
run  their  rounds.  Periods  of  mental  and  moral  light 
and  darkness  succeed  each  other  as  day  does  night. 
The  major  and  minor  yugas  must  be  accomplished 
according  to  the  established  order  of  things.  And  we, 
borne  along  on  the  mighty  tide,  can  only  modify  and 
direct  some  of  its  minor  currents.  If  we  had  the 
powers  of  the  imaginary  personal  God,  and  the  im- 
mutable laws  were  but  toys  to  play  with,  then,  in- 
deed, might  we  have  created  conditions  that  would 
have  turned  this  earth  into  an  Arcadia  for  lofty  souls. " 

And  so  in  individual  cases — even  among  those  who 
are  in  direct  relations  with  some  Adept — the  law  can- 
not be  infringed.  Karma  demands  that  such  and 
such  a  thing  should  happen  to  the  individual,  and  the 
greatest  God  or  the  smallest  Adept  cannot  life  a  finger 
to  prevent  it.  A  nation  may  have  heaped  up  against 
its  account  as  a  nation  a  vast  amount  of  bad  Karma. 
Its  fate  is  sure,  and  although  it  may  have  noble 
units  in  it,  great  souls  even  who  are  Adepts  them- 


ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT.  I9 

selves,  nothing  can  save  it,  and  it  will  ' '  go  out  like  a 
torch  dipped  in  water." 

Such  was  the  end  of  ancient  Egypt,  of  whose 
former  glory  no  man  of  this  day  knows  aught.  Al- 
though to  us  she  appears  in  the  historical  sky  as  a 
full-risen  sun,  she  yet  had  her  period  of  growth, 
when  mighty  Adepts  sat  upon  the  throne  and  guided 
the  people.  She  gradually  reached  a  high  point  of 
power  and  then  her  people  grew  material;  the 
Adepts  retired ;  pretended  Adepts  took  their  place, 
and  gradually  her  glory  weaned  until  at  last  the  light 
of  Egypt  became  darkness.  The  same  story  was  re- 
peated in  Chaldea  and  Assyria  and  also  upon  the  sur- 
face of  our  own  America.  .  Here  a  great,  a  glorious 
civiHzation  once  flourished,  only  to  disappear  as  the 
others  did ;  and  that  a  grand  development  of  civiliza- 
tion is  beginning  here  again  is  one  of  the  operations  of 
the  just  and  perfect  law  of  Karma  to  the  eye  of  the 
Theosophist,  but  one  of  the  mysterious  workings  of 
an  irresponsible  providence  to  those  who  believe  in  a 
personal  God  who  giveth  the  land  of  other  men  to 
the  good  Christian.  The  development  of  the  Amer- 
ican nation  has  a  mysterious  but  potent  connection 
with  the  wonderful  past  of  the  Atlanteans,  and  is  one 
of  those  great  stories  outlined  in  the  book  of  fate  by 
the  Lipika  to  whom  I  referred  last  week. 

vni. 

A  MONO  the  Adepts  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations  and 
^^  civilizations  are  subjects  which  are  studied  un- 
der the  great  cycHc  movements.  They  hold  that 
there  is  an  indissoluble  connection  between  man  and 
every  event  that  takes  place  on  this  globe,  not  only 
the  ordinary  changes  in  politics  and  social  life,  but 
all  the  happenings  in  the  mineral,  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal kingdoms.  The  changes  in  the  seasons  are  for 
and  through  man ;  the  great  upheavals  of  continents, 
the  movements  of  immense  glaciers,  the  terrific  erup- 


20  ECHOES    FROM     THE    ORIENT. 

tions  of  volcanoes,  or  the  sudden  overflowings  of 
great  rivers,  are  all  for  and  through  man,  whether 
he  be  conscious  of  it  or  present  or  absent.  And 
they  tell  of  great  changes  in  the  inclination  of  the 
axis  of  the  earth,  past  and  to  come,  all  due  to  man. 

This  doctrine  is  incomprehensible  to  the  Western 
nineteenth  century,  for  it  is  hidden  from  observation, 
opposed  to  tradition  and  contradicted  by  education. 
But  the  Theosophist  who  has  passed  beyond  the  ele- 
mentary stages  knows  that  it  is  true  nevertheless. 
"What,"  says  the  worshipper  of  Science,  "has  man 
got  to  do  with  the  Charleston  earthquake,  or  with 
the  showers  of  cosmic  dust  that  invade  our  atmos- 
phere ?     Nothing. ' ' 

But  the  Adept,  standing  on  the  immeasurable 
height  where  centuries  lie  under  his  glance,  sees  the 
great  cycles  and  the  lesser  ones  rolling  onward,  in- 
fluenced by  man  and  working  out  their  changes  for 
his  punishment,  reward,  experience  and  development. 

It  is  not  necessary  now  to  try  to  make  it  clear  how 
the  thoughts  and  deeds  of  men  effect  any  changes 
in  material  things ;  that  I  will  lay  down  for  the  present 
as  a  dogma,  if  you  please,  to  be  made  clear  later  on. 

The  great  subject  of  cycles  has  been  touched  upon, 
and  brings  us  close  to  a  most  facinating  statement 
made  by  the  Theosophical  Adepts.  It  is  this,  that  the 
cycles  in  their  movement  are  bringing  up  to  the  sur- 
face now,  in  the  United  States  and  America  gener- 
ally, not  only  a  great  glory  of  civilization  which  was 
forgotten  eleven  thousand  or  more  years  ago,  but 
also  the  very  men,  the  monads — the  egos,  as  they 
call  them — who  were  concerned  so  many  ages  since  in 
developing  and  bringing  it  to  its  final  lustre.  In 
fact,  we  of  the  nineteenth  century,  hearing  of  new 
discoveries  and  inventions  every  day,  and  dreaming 
of  great  advances  in  all  arts  and  sciences,  are  the  same 
individuals  who  inhabited  bodies  among  the  powerful 
and  brilliant  as  well  as  wicked,  Atlanteans,  whose 


,  ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT.  21 

name  is  forever  set  immortal  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
The  Europeans  are  also  Atlantean  monads ;  but  the 
flower,  so  to  speak,  of  this  revival  or  resurrection,  is 
and  is  to  be  on  the  American  continent.  I  will  not 
say  the  United  States,  for  mayhap,  when  the  sun  of 
our  power  has  risen  again,  there  may  be  no  United 
States  for  it  to  rise  upon. 

.  Of  course,  in  order  to  be  able  to  accept  in  any  de- 
gree this  theory,  it  is  essential  that  one  should  be- 
lieve in  the  twin  Th'eosophical  doctrines  of  Karma 
and  Reincarnation,  To  me  it  seems  quite  plain.  I 
can  almost  see  the  Atlanteans  in  these  citizens  of 
America,  sleepy,  and  not  well  aware  who  they  are, 
but  yet  full  of  the  Atlantean  ideas,  which  are  only 
prevented  from  full  and  clear  expression  by  the  in- 
herited bodily  and  mental  environment  which  cramps 
and  binds  the  mighty  man  within.  This  again  is 
Nemesis-Karma  that  punishes  us  by  means  of  these 
galling  limitations,  penning  up  our  power  and  for  the 
time  frustrating  our  ambition.  It  is  because,  when 
we  were  in  Atlantean  bodies,  we  did  wickedly,  not  the 
mere  sordid  wicked  things  of  this  day,  but  high  deeds 
of  evil  such  as  by  St.  Paul  were  attributed  to  unknown 
spiritual  beings  in  high  places.  We  degraded  spir- 
itual things  and  turned  mighty  powers  over  nature 
to  base  uses ;  we  did  in  excelsis  that  which  is  hinted  at 
now  in  the  glorification  of  wealth,  of  material  goods, 
of  the  individual  over  the  spiritual  and  above  the 
great  Man — Humanity.  This  has  now  its  compensa- 
tion in  our  present  inability  to  attain  what  we  want 
or  to  remove  from  among  us  the  grinding-stones  of 
poverty.  We  are,  as  yet,  only  preparers,  much  as  we 
may  exalt  our  plainly  crude  American  development. 
Herein  lies  the  very  gist  of  the  cycle's  meaning. 
It  is  a  preparatory  cycle  with  much  of  necessary  de- 
struction in  it ;  for,  before  construction,  we  must 
have  some  disintegration.  We  are  preparing  here  in 
America  a  new  race  which  will  exhibit  the  perfec- 


22  ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

tion  of  the  glories  that  I  said  were  being  slowly 
brought  to  the  surface  from  the  long  forgotten  past. 
This  is  why  the  Americas  are  seen  to  be  in  a  perpet- 
ual ferment.  It  is  the  seething  and  bubbling  of  the 
older  races  in  the  refining-pot,  and  the  slow  coming 
up  of  the  material  for  the  new  race.  Here,  and  no- 
where else,  are  to  be  found  men  and  women  of  every 
race  living  together,  being  governed  together,  at- 
tacking nature  and  the  problems  of  life  together, 
and  bringing  forth  children  who  combine,  each  one, 
two  races.  This  process  will  go  on  until  in  the 
course  of  many  generations  there  will  be  produced 
on  the  American  continents  an  entirely  new  race; 
new  bodies ;  new  orders  of  intellect ;  new  powers  of 
the  mind ;  curious  and  unheard-of  psychic  powers,  as 
well  as  extraordinary  physical  ones ;  with  new  senses 
and  extensions  of  present  senses  now  unforeseen. 
When  this  new  sort  of  body  and  mind  are  generated 
— then  other  monads,  or  our  own  again,  will  animate 
them  and  paint  upon  the  screen  of  time  the  pictures 
of  100,000  years  ago. 

IX. 

In  dealing  with  these  doctrines  one  is  compelled  now 
*  and  then  to  greatly  extend  the  scope  and  meaning 
of  many  English  words.  The  word  "race"  is  one 
of  these.  In  the  Theosophical  scheme,  as  given  out 
by  the  sages  of  the  East,  seven  great  races  are  spoken 
of.  Each  one  of  these  includes  all  the  different  so- 
called  races  of  our  modern  ethnology.  Hence  the 
necessity  for  having  seven  great  root-races,  sub-races, 
family  races,  and  countless  offshoot  races.  The  root- 
race  sends  off  sub-races,  and  these  divide  into  family 
groups;  all,  however,  being  included  in  the  grea>t 
root-race  then  undergoing  development. 

The  appearance  of  these  great  root-races  is  always 
just  when  the  world's  development  permits.  When 
the  globe  was  forming,  the  first  root-race  was  more 


ECHOES    FROM     THE    ORIENT.  2$ 

or  less  ethereal  and  had  no  such  body  as  we  now  in- 
habit. The  cosmic  environment  became  more  dense 
and  the  second  race  appeared,  soon  after  which  the 
first  wholly  disappeared.  Then  the  third  came  on 
the  scene,  after  an  immense  lapse  of  time,  during 
which  the  second  had  been  developing  the  bodies 
needed  for  the  third.  At  the  coming  of  the  fourth 
root-race  it  is  said  that  the  present  human  form  was 
evolved,  although  gigantic  and  in  some  respects  dif- 
ferent from  our  own.  It  is  from  this  point — the 
fourth  race — that  the  Theosophical  system  begins  to 
speak  of  man  as  such. 

The  old  book  quoted  by  Mme.  Blavatsky  has  it  in 
this  wise : 

' '  Thus  two  by  two  on  the  seven  zones  the  third 
race  gave  birth  to  the  fourth;"  and, 

* '  The  first  race  on  every  zone  was  moon-colored ; 
the  second,  yellow,  like  gold;  the  third,  red;  the 
fourth,  brown,  which  became  black  with  sin." 

Topinard,  in  his  Anthropology^  gives  support  to  this, 
as  he  says  that  there  are  three  fundamental  colors  in 
the  human  organism — red,  yellow  and  black.  The 
brown  race,  which  became  black  with  sin,  refers  to 
the  Atlantean  sorcerer  race  of  which  I  spoke  in  my 
last ;  its  awfully  evil  practices,  both  mental  and  phys- 
ical, having  produced  a  change  in  the  color  of  the 
skin. 

The  evolution  of  these  seven  great  races  covers 
many  millions  of  years,  and  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  when  the  new  race  is  fully  evolved  the  preceding 
race  disappears,  as  the  monads  in  it  have  been  gradu- 
ally reincarnated  in  the  bodies  of  the  new  race.  The 
present  root-race  to  which  we  belong,  no  matter  what 
the  sub-race  or  family  we  may  be  in,  is  the  fifth.  It 
became  a  separate,  distinct  and  completely-defined 
race  about  one  million  years  ago,  and  has  yet  many 
more  years  to  serve  before  the  sixth  will  be  ushered 
in.      This  fifth  race  includes  also  all  the  nations  in 


24  ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

Europe,  as  they  together  form  a  family  race  and  are 
not  to  be  divided  off  from  each  other. 

Now,  the  process  of  forming  the  foundation,  or 
great  spinal  column,  for  that  race  which  is  to  usher 
in  the  sixth,  and  which  I  said  is  now  going  on  in  the 
Americas,  is  a  slow  process  for  us.  Obliged  as  we 
are  by  our  inability  to  judge  or  to  count  except  by 
relativity,  the  gradual  coming  together  of  nations  and 
the  fusion  of  their  offspring  over  and  over  again  so 
as  to  bring  forth  something  new  in  the  human  line, 
is  so  gradual  as  to  seem  almost  without  progress. 
But  this  change  and  evolution  go  on  nevertheless,  and 
a  very  careful  observer  can  see  evidences  of  it.  One 
fact  deserves  attention.  It  is  the  inventive  faculty 
displayed  by  Americans.  This  is  not  accorded  much 
force  by  our  scientists,  but  the  Occultist  sees  in  it  an 
evidence  that  the  brains  of  these  inventors  are  more 
open  to  influences  and  pictures  from  the  astral  world 
than  are  the  brains  of  the  older  nations.  Reports 
have  been  brought  to  me  by  competent  persons  of 
children,  boys  and  girls,  who  were  born  with  most 
abnormal  faculties  of  speech,  or  memory  or  other- 
wise, and  some  such  cases  I  have  seen  myself.  All 
of  these  occur  in  America,  and  many  of  them  in  the 
West.  There  is  more  nervousness  here  than  in  the 
older  nations.  This  is  accounted  for  by  the  hurry 
and  rush  of  our  civilization ;  but  such  an  explanation 
really  explains  nothing,  because  the  question  yet  re- 
mains, ' '  Why  is  there  such  hurry  and  push  and 
change  in  the  United  States?"  Such  ordinary  argu- 
ments go  in  a  circle,  since  they  leave  out  of  sight  the 
fundamental  reason,  so  familiar  to  the  Theosophist, 
that  it  is  human  evolution  going  on  right  before  our 
eyes  in  accordance  with  cyclic  laws. 

The  Theosophical  Adepts  believe  in  evolution,  but 
not  that  sort  which  claims  an  ape  as  our  ancestor. 
Their  great  and  comprehensive  system  is  quite  able 
to  account  for  rudimentary  muscles  and  traces  of  or- 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  25 

gans  found  complete  only  in  the  animal  kingdom 
without  having  to  call  a  pithecoid  ape  our  father, 
for  they  show  the  gradual  process  of  building  the 
temple  for  the  use  of  the  divine  Ego,  proceeding 
ceaselessly,  and  in  silence,  through  ages  upon  ages, 
winding  in  and  out  among  all  the  forms  in  nature  in 
.every  kingdom,  from  the  mineral  up  to  the  highest. 
This  is  the  real  explanation  of  the  old  Jewish,  Mason- 
ic and  archaic  saying  that  the  temple  of  the  Lord  is 
not  made  with  hands  and  that  no  sound  of  building 
is  heard  in  it. 

X. 

It  is  well  now  to  say,  more  definitely  than  I  have 
^  *  as  yet,  a  few  words  of  the  two  classes  of  beings, 
one  of  which  has  been  much  spoken  of  in  Theosoph- 
ical  literature,  and  also  by  those  on  the  outside  who 
write  of  the  subject  either  in  seriousness  or  in  ridicule. 
These  two  classes  of  exalted  personages  are  the  Ma- 
hatmas  and  Nirmanakayas. 

In  respect  to  the  ^lahatmas,  a  great  many  wrong 
notions  have  currency,  not  only  with  the  public,  but 
as  well  with  Theosophists  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Theosophical  Society  the 
name  Mahatma  was  not  in  use  here,  but  the  title 
then  was  "  Brothers."  This  referred  to  the  fact  that 
they  were  a  band  of  men  w^ho  belonged  to  a  brother- 
hood in  the  East.  The  most  wonderful  powers  and, 
at  times,  the  most  extraordinary  motives  were  attrib- 
uted to  them  by  those  who  believed  in  their  existence. 

They  could  pass  to  all  parts  of  the  world  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye.  Across  the  great  distance  that 
India  is  from  here  they  could  precipitate  letters  to 
their  friends  and  disciples  in  New  York.  Many 
thought  that  if  this  were  done  it  was  only  for  amuse- 
ment ;  others  looked  at  it  in  the  light  of  a  test  for  the 
faithful,  while  still  others  often  supposed  Mahatmas 
acted  thus  for  pure  love  of  exercising  their  power. 


26  ECHOES   FROM    THE   ORIENT. 

The  Spiritualists,  some  of  whom  believed  that  Mme. 
Blavatsky  really  did  the  wonderful  things  told  of 
her,  said  that  she  was  only  a  medium,  pure  and  sim- 
ple, and  that  her  Brothers  were  familiar  spooks  of 
seance  rooms.  Meanwhile  the  press  in  general 
laughed,  and  Mme.  Blavatsky  and  her  Theosophical 
friends  went  on  doing  their  work  and  never  gave  up 
their  belief  in  the  Brothers,  who  after  a  few  years 
came  to  be  called  Mahatmas.  Indiscriminately  with 
Mahatma  the  woryi  Adept  has  been  used  to  describe 
the  same  beings,  so  that  we  have  these  two  titles  made 
use  of  without  accuracy  and  in  a  misleading  fashion. 
The  word  Adept  signifies  proficiency,  and  is  not 
uncommon,  so  that,  when  using  it,  some  description 
is  necessary  if  it  is  to  be  applied  to  the  Brothers. 
For  that  reason  I  used  Theosophical  Adepts  in  a  pre- 
vious paper.  A  Mahatma  is  not  only  an  Adept,  but 
much  more.  The  etymology  of  it  will  make  the 
matter  clearer,  the  word  being  strictly  Sanskrit,  from 
7naha,  great,  and  dttna,  soul — hence  Great  Soul.  This 
does  not  mean  a  noble-hearted  man  merely,  but  a 
perfected  being,  one  who  has  attained  to  the  state 
often  described  by  mystics  and  held  by  scientific  men 
to  be  an  impossibility,  when  time  and  space  are  no 
obstacles  to  sight,  to  action,  to  knowledge  or  to  con- 
sciousness. Hence  they  are  said  to  be  able  to  per- 
form the  extraordinary  feats  related  by  various  per- 
sons, and  also  to  possess  information  of  a  decidedly 
practical  character  concerning  the  laws  of  nature,  in- 
cluding that  mystery  for  science — the  meaning,  oper- 
ation and  constitution  of  life  itself — and  concerning 
the  genesis  of  this  planet  as  well  as  the  races  upon 
it.  These  large  claims  have  given  rise  to  the  chief 
complaint  brought  forward  against  the  Theosophical 
Adepts  by  those  writers  outside  of  the  Society  who 
have  taken  the  subject  up — that  they  remain,  if  they 
exist  at  all,  in  a  state  of  cold  and  selfish  quietude, 
seeing  the  misery  and  hearing  the  groans  of  the 


ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT.  i'j 

world,  yet  refusing  to  hold  out  a  helping  hand  except 
to  a  favored  few ;  possessing  knowledge  of  scientific 
principles,  or  of  medicinal  preparations,  and  yet 
keeping  it  back  from  learned  men  or  wealthy  capi- 
talists who  desire  to  advance  commerce  while  they 
turn  an  honest  penny.  Although,  for  one,  I  firmly 
believe,  upon  evidence  given  me,  in  all  that  is 
claimed  for  these  Adepts,  I  declare  groundless  the 
complaint  advanced,  knowing  it  to  be  due  to  a  want 
of  knowledge  of  those  who  are  impugned. 

Adepts  and  Mahatmas  are  not  a  miraculous  growth, 
nor  the  selfish  successors  of  some  who,  accidentally 
stumbling  upon  great  truths,  transmitted  them  to  ad- 
herents under  patent  rights.  They  are  human  beings 
trained,  developed,  cultivated  through  not  only  a  life 
but  long  series  of  lives,  always  under  evolutionary 
laws  and  quite  in  accord  with  what  we  see  among  men 
of  the  world  or  of  science.  Just  as  a  Tyndall  is  greater 
than  a  savage,  though  still  a  man,  so  is  the  Mahatma, 
not  ceasing  to  be  human,  still  greater  than  a  Tyn- 
dall. The  Mahatma-Adept  is  a  natural  growth,  and 
not  produced  by  any  miracle ;  the  process  by  which 
he  so  becomes  may  be  to  us  an  unfamiliar  one,  but  it 
is  in  the  strict  order  of  nature. 

Some  years  ago  a  well-known  Anglo-Indian,  writ- 
ing to  the  Theosophical  Adepts,  queried  if  they  had 
ever  made  any  mark  upon  the  web  of  history,  doubt- 
ing that  they  had.  The  reply  was  that  he  had  no 
bar  at  which  to  arraign  them,  and  that  they  had 
written  many  an  important  line  upon  the  page  of  hu- 
man life,  not  only  as  reigning  in  visible  shape,  but 
down  to  the  very  latest  dates  when,  as  for  many  a 
long  century  before,  they  did  their  work  behind  the 
scenes.  To  be  more  explicit,  these  wonderful  ?ne/i 
have  swayed  the  destiny  of  nations  and  are  shaping 
events  to-day.  Pillars  of  peace  and  makers  of  war 
such  as  Bismarck,  or  saviors  of  nations  such  as  Wash- 
ington, Lincoln  and  Grant,  owe  their  elevation,  their 


28  ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

singular  power,  and  their  astonishing  grasp  upon  the 
right  men  for  their  purposes,  not  to  trained  intellect 
or  long  preparation  in  the  schools  of  their  day,  but 
to  these  very  unseen  Adepts,  who  crave  no  honors, 
seek  no  publicity  and  claim  no  acknowledgment. 
Each  one  of  these  great  human  leaders  whom  I  have 
mentioned  had  in  his  obscure  years  what  he  called 
premonitions  of  future  greatness,  or  connection  with 
stirring  events  in  his  native  land. 

Lincoln  always  felt  that  in  some  way  he  was  to  be 
an  instrument  for  some  great  work,  and  the  stray 
utterances  of  Bismarck  point  to  silent  hours,  never 
openly  referred  to,  when  he  felt  an  impulse  pushing 
him  to  whatever  of  good  he  may  have  done.  A 
long  array  of  instances  could  be  brought  forward  to 
show  that  the  Adepts  have  made  "an  ineffaceable 
mark  upon  diverse  eras."  Even  during  the  great 
uprising  in  India  that  threatened  the  English  rule 
there,  they  saw  long  in  advance  the  influence  Eng- 
land and  India  would  have  in  the  affairs  of  the  world 
through  the  very  psychic  and  metaphysical  changes 
of  to-day,  and  often  hastened  to  communicate,  by 
their  own  occult  and  wonderful  methods,  the  news  of 
successes  for  English  arms  to  districts  and  peoples  in 
the  interior  who  might  have  risen  under  the  stimulus 
of  imaginary  reports  of  English  disasters.  At  other 
times,  vague  fears  were  spread  instantly  over  large 
masses  of  the  Hindus,  so  that  England  at  last  re- 
mained master,  even  though  many  a  patriotic  native 
desired  another  result.  But  the  Adepts  do  not  work 
for  the  praise  of  men,  for  the  ephemeral  influence  of 
a  day,  but  for  the  future  races  and  man's  best  and 
highest  good. 

XI. 

Cor  an  exhaustive  disquisition  upon  Adepts,    Ma- 

hatmas  and  Nirmanakayas,  more  than  a  volume 

would  be  needed.     The  development  illustrated  by 


ECHOES   FROM    THE   ORIENT.  ^^ 

them  is  so  strange  to  modern  minds  and  so  extraor- 
dinary in  these  days  of  general  mediocrity,  that  the 
average  reader  fails  to  grasp  with  ease  the  views  ad- 
vanced in  a  condensed  article ;  and  nearly  everything 
one  would  say  about  Adepts — to  say  nothing  of  the 
Nirmanakayas — requiring  full  explanation  of  recon- 
dite laws  and  abstruse  questions,  is  liable  to  be  mis- 
understood, even  if  volumes  should  be  written  upon 
them.  The  development,  conditions,  powers,  and 
function  of  these  beings  carry  with  them  the  whole 
scheme  of  evolution ;  for,  as  said  by  the  mystics,  the 
Mahatma  is  the  efflorescence  of  an  age.  The  Adepts 
may  be  dimly  understood  to-day,  the  Nirmanakayas 
have  as  yet  been  only  passingly  mentioned,  and  the 
Mahatmas  are  misconceived  by  believers  and  deni- 
ers  alike. 

But  one  law  governing  them  is  easy  to  state  and 
ought  not  to  be  difficult  for  the  understanding.  They 
do  not,  will  not,  and  must  not  interfere  with  Karma ; 
that  is,  however  apparently  deserving  of  help  an  in- 
dividual may  be,  they  will  not  extend  it  in  the  man- 
ner desired  if  his  Karma  does  not  permit  it ;  and  they 
would  not  step  into  the  field  of  human  thought  for 
the  purpose  of  bewildering  humanity  by  an  exercise 
of  power  which  on  all  sides  would  be  looked  upon  as 
miraculous.  Some  have  said  that  if  the  Theosophic- 
al  Adepts  were  to  perform  a  few  of  their  feats  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  Europe,  an  immense  following  for 
them  would  at  once  arise;  but  such  would  not  be 
the  result.  Instead  of  it  there  would  be  dogmatism 
and  idolatry  worse  than  have  ever  been,  with  a  reac- 
tion of  an  injurious  nature  impossible  to  counteract. 

Hypnotism — though  by  another  name — has  long 
been  known  to  them.  The  hypnotic  condition  has 
often  aided  the  schemes  of  priests  and  churches.  To 
compel  recognition  of  true  doctrine  is  not  the  way 
of  these  sages,  for  compulsion  is  hypnotism.  To 
feed  a  multitude  with  only  five  loaves  would  be  easy 


3d  ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENt. 

for  them ;  but  as  they  never  act  upon  sentiment  but 
continually  under  the  great  cosmic  laws,  they  do  not 
advance  with  present  material  aid  for  the  poor  in 
their  hands.  But,  by  using-  their  natural  powers, 
they  every  day  influence  the  world,  not  only  among 
the  rich  and  poor  of  Europe  and  America,  but  in 
every  other  land,  so  that  what  does  come  about  in 
our  lives  is  better  than  it  would  have  been  had  they 
not  had  part  therein. 

The  other  class  referred  to — Nirmanakayas — con- 
stantly engage  in  this  work  deemed  by  them  greater 
than  earthly  enterprises :  the  betterment  of  the  soul 
of  man,  and  any  other  good  that  they  can  accomplish 
through  human  agents.  Around  them  the  long-dis- 
puted question  of  Nirvana  revolves,  for  all  that  they 
have  not  been  distinctly  considered  in  it.  For,  if 
Max  MUUer's  view  of  Nirvana,  that  it  is  annihila- 
tion, be  correct,  than  a  Nirmanakaya  is  an  impossi- 
bility. Paradoxically  speaking,  they  are  in  and  out 
of  that  state  at  one  and  the  same  time.  They  are 
owners  of  Nirvana  who  refuse  to  accept  it  in  order 
that  they  may  help  the  suffering  orphan.  Humanity. 
They  have  followed  the  injunction  of  the  Book  of  the 
Golden  Precepts:  ' '  Step  out  from  sunlight  into  shade, 
to  make  more  room  for  others." 

A  greater  part  is  taken  in  the  history  of  nations  by 
the  Nirmanakayas  than  anyone  supposes.  Some  of 
them  have  under  their  care  certain  men  in  every  na- 
tion who  from  their  birth  are  destined  to  be  great 
factors  in  the  future.  These  they  guide  and  guard 
until  the  appointed  time.  And  such  proteges  but 
seldom  know  that  such  influence  is  about  them,  es- 
pecially in  the  nineteenth  century.  Acknowledgment 
and  appreciation  of  such  great  assistance  are  not  re- 
quired by  the  Nirmankayas,  who  work  behind  the 
veil  and  prepare  the  material  for  a  definite  end.  At 
the  same  time,  too,  one  Nirmanakaya  may  have  many 
different  men — or  women — whom  he  directs.    As  Pa- 


ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT.  3 1 

tanjali  puts  it,  **In  all  these  bodies  one  mind  is  the 
moving  cause. " 

Strange,  too,  as  it  may  seem,  often  such  men  as 
Napoleon  Buonaparte  are  from  time  to  time  helped 
by  them.  Such  a  being  as  Napoleon  could  not  come 
upon  the  scene  fortuitously.  His  birth  and  strange 
powers  must  be  in  the  order  of  nature.  The  far- 
reaching  consequences  going  with  a  nature  like  his, 
unmeasurable  by  us,  must  in  the  eastern  Theosophic- 
al  philosophy  be  watched  and  provided  for.  If  he 
was  a  wicked  man,  so  much  the  worse  for  him ;  but 
that  could  never  deter  a  Nirmanakaya  from  turning 
him  to  his  uses.  That  might  be  by  swerving  him, 
perchance,  from  a  path  that  would  have  plunged  the 
world  into  depths  of  woe  and  been  made  to  bring 
about  results  in  after  years  which  Napolean  never 
dreamed  of.  The  fear  of  what  the  world  might 
think  of  encouraging  a  monster  at  a  certain  point 
never  can  deter  a  sage  who  sees  the  end  that  is 
best.  And  in  the  life  of  Napolean  there  are  many 
things  going  to  show  at  times  an  influence  more  pow- 
erful than  he  could  grapple.  His  foolhardy  march  to 
Moscow  was  perhaps  engineered  by  these  silent  cam- 
paigners, and  also  his  sudden  and  disastrous  retreat. 
What  he  could  have  done  had  he  remained  in  France, 
no  present  historian  is  competent  to  say.  The  oft- 
doubted  story  of  the  red  letter  from  the  Red  Man 
just  when  Napoleon  was  in  a  hesitating  mood,  may 
have  been  an  encouragement  at  a  particular  juncture. 
' '  Whom  the  gods  would  destroy,  they  first  make 
mad."  Nor  will  the  defeat  at  Waterloo  be  ever 
understood  until  the  Nirmanakayas  give  their  rec- 
ords up. 

As  a  change  in  the  thought  of  a  people  who  have 
been  tending  to  gross  atheism  is  one  always  desired 
by  the  Sages  of  the  Wisdom  Religion,  it  may  be  sup- 
posed that  the  wave  of  spiritualistic  phenomena  re- 
sulting now  quite  clearly  in  a  tendency  back  to  a  tini- 


32  ECHOES   FROM    THE   ORIENT. 

versal  acknowledgment  of  the  soul,  has  been  aided 
by  the  Nirmanakayas.  They  are  in  it  and  of  it ;  they 
push  on  the  progress  of  a  psychic  deluge  over  great 
masses  of  people.  The  result  is  seen  in  the  litera- 
ture, the  religion  and  the  drama  of  to-day.  Slowly 
but  surely  the  tide  creeps  up  and  covers  the  once  dry 
shore  of  Materialism,  and,  though  priests  may  howl, 
demanding  *'the  suppression  of  Theosophy  with  a 
firm  hand,"  and  a  venal  press  may  try  to  help  them, 
they  have  neither  the  power  nor  the  knowledge  to 
produce  one  backward  ripple,  for  the  Master  hand  is 
guided  by  omniscient  intelligence  propelled  by  a 
gigantic  force,  and — works  behind  the  scene. 

XII. 

npHERE  have  been  so  many  secret  societies  during 
^  the  Christian  era,  by  whom  claims  were  made 
to  knowledge  of  nature's  secret  laws,  that  a  natural 
question  arises:  "In  what  do  the  Theosophic  East- 
ern Sages  differ  from  the  many  Rosicrucians  and 
others  so  often  heard  of  ?"  The  old  bookshelves  of 
Germany  are  full  of  publications  upon  Rosicrucian- 
ism,  or  by  pretended  and  genuine  members  of  that 
order,  and  to-day  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  those 
who  have  temerity  enough  to  dub  themselves  ' '  Rosi- 
crucians." 

The  difference  is  that  which  exists  between  reality 
and  illusion,  between  mere  ritualism  and  the  signs 
printed  by  nature  upon  all  things  and  beings  passing 
forever  up  the  road  to  higher  states  of  existence. 
The  Rosicrucian  and  Masonic  fraternities  known  to 
history  rely  upon  outward  signs  and  tokens  to  indi- 
cate the  status  in  the  order  of  their  members,  who, 
without  such  guarantees,  are  only  uninitiated  out- 
siders. 

But  the  Sages  we  speak  of,  and  their  disciples, 
carry  with  them  the  indelible  mark  and  speak  the 
well-known  words  that  show  they  are  beings  devel- 


ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT.  33 

Oped  under  laws,  and  not  merely  persons  who,  hav- 
ing undergone  a  childish  ordeal,  are  possessed  of  a 
diploma.  The  Adepts  may  be  called  rugged  oaks 
that  have  no  disguise,  while  the  undeveloped  man 
dabbling  in  Masonic  words  and  formulas  is  only  a 
donkey  wearing  a  lion's  skin. 

There  are  many  Adepts  living  in  the  world,  all  of 
whom  know  each  other.  They  have  means  of  com- 
munication unknown  to  modern  civilization,  by  using 
which  they  can  transmit  to  and  receive  from  each 
other  messages  at  any  moment  and  from  immense 
distances,  without  using  any  mechanical  means.  We 
might  say  that  there  is  a  Society  of  Adepts,  provided 
that  we  never  attach  to  the  word  "society''  the 
meaning  ordinarily  conveyed  by  it.  It  is  a  society 
which  has  no  place  of  meeting,  which  exacts  no  dues, 
which  has  no  constitution  or  by-laws  other  than  the 
eternal  laws  of  nature ;  there  are  no  police  or  spies 
attached  to  it  and  no  complaints  are  made  or  received 
in  it,  for  the  reason  that  any  offender  is  punished  by 
the  operation  of  law  entirely  beyond  his  control — his 
mastery  over  the  law  being  lost  upon  his  infringing  it. 

Under  the  protection  and  assistance  and  guidance 
of  this  Society  of  Adepts  are  the  disciples  of  each 
one  of  its  members.  These  disciples  are  divided  into 
different  degrees,  corresponding  to  the  various  stages 
of  development ;  the  least  developed  disciples  are  as- 
sisted by  those  who  are  in  advance  of  them,  and  the 
latter  in  a  similar  manner  by  others,  until  the  grade 
of  disciple  is  reached  where  direct  intercourse  with 
the  Adepts  is  possible.  At  the  same  time,  each 
Adept  keeps  a  supervisory  eye  upon  all  his  disciples. 
Through  the  agency  of  the  disciples  of  Adepts  many 
effects  are  brought  about  in  human  thought  and 
affairs,  for  from  the  higher  grades  are  often  sent  those 
who,  without  disclosing  their  connection  with  mysti- 
cism, influence  individuals  who  are  known  to  be  main 
factors  in  events  about  to  occur. 


34  ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

It  is  claimed  that  the  Theosophical  Society  re- 
ceives assistance  in  its  growth  and  the  spreading  of 
its  influence  from  the  Adepts  and  their  accepted 
disciples.  The  history  of  the  Society  would  seem 
to  prove  this,  for  unless  there  were  some  hidden 
but  powerful  force  operating  for  its  advantage  it 
would  have  long  ago  sunk  into  obscurity,  destroyed 
by  the  storm  of  ridicule  and  abuse  to  which  it  has 
been  subjected.  Promises  were  made,  in  the  early 
history  of  the  Society,  that  assistance  would  at  all 
times  be  rendered,  and  prophecies  were  hinted  that 
it  would  be  made  the  target  for  vilification  and  the 
object  of  opposition.  Both  prophecies  have  been 
fulfilled  to  the  letter. 

In  just  the  same  way  as  a  polished  diamond  shows 
the  work  which  gives  it  value  and  brilliancy,  so  the 
man  who  has  gone  through  probation  and  teaching 
under  the  Adepts  carries  upon  his  person  the  inefface- 
able marks.  To  the  ordinary  eye  untrained  in  this 
department,  no  such  indications  are  visible ;  but  those 
who  can  see  describe  them  as  being  quite  prominent 
and  wholly  beyond  the  control  of  the  bearer.  For 
this  reason  that  one  who  has  progressed,  say,  three 
steps  along  the  way,  will  have  three  marks,  and  it  is 
useless  to  pretend  that  his  rank  is  a  step  higher,  for, 
if  it  were,  then  the  fourth  mark  would  be  there, 
since  it  grows  with  the  being's  development.  Now, 
as  these  signatures  cannot  be  imitated  or  forged,  the 
whole  inner  fraternity  has  no  need  for  concealment 
of  signs.  No  one  can  commit  a  fraud  upon  or  ex- 
tract from  them  the  secrets  of  higher  degrees  by 
having  obtained  signs  and  pass-words  out  of  a  book 
or  in  return  for  the  payment  of  fees,  and  none  can 
procure  the  conferring  of  any  advancement  imtil  the 
whole  nature  of  the  man  exactly  corresponds  to  the 
desired  point  of  development. 

In  two  ways  the  difference  between  the  Adept  fra- 
ternity and  the  worldly  secret  societies  can  be  seen — 


ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT.  35 

in  their  treatment  of  nations  and  of  their  own  direct 
special  disciples.     Nothing  is  forced  or  depends  upon 
favor.     Everything  is  arranged  in  accordance  with 
the  best  interests   of   a  nation,  having  in  view  the 
cyclic  influences  at  any  time  prevailing,  and  never 
before  the  proper  time.    When  they  desire  to  destroy 
the  chains  forged  by  dogmatism,  they  do  not  make 
the  error  of  suddenly  appearing  before  the  aston- 
ished eyes  of   the  people;  for  they  know  well  that 
such  a  course  would  only  alter  the  dogmatic  belief  inx 
one  set  of  ideas  to  a  senseless  and  equally  dogmatic  \ 
adherence  to  the  Adepts  as  gods,  or  else  create  in  I 
the  minds  of  many  the  surety  that  the  devil  was  '• 
present. 

xni. 

T*HE  training  of  the  disciple  by  the  teachers  of  the 
school  to  which  the  Theosophical  Adepts  belong 
is  peculiar  to  itself,  and  not  in  accord  with  prevailing 
modern  educational  ideas.  In  one  respect  it  is  a 
specialization  of  the  pilgrimage  to  a  sacred  place  so 
common  in  India,  and  the  enshrined  object  of  the 
journey  is  the  soul  itself,  for  with  them  the  existence 
of  soul  is  one  of  the  first  principles. 

In  the  East  the  life  of  man  is  held  to  be  a  pilgrim- 
age, not  only  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  but  also 
through  that  vast  period  of  time,  embracing  millions 
upon  millions  of  years,  stretching  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  a  Manvantara,  or  period  of  evolution, 
and  as  he  is  held  to  be  a  spiritual  being,  the  continu- 
ity of  his  existence  is  unbroken.  Nations  and  civili- 
zations rise,  grow  old,  decline  and  disappear;  but 
the  being  lives  on,  spectator  of  all  the  innumerable 
changes  of  environment.  Starting  from  the  great 
All,  radiating  like  a  spark  from  the  central  fire,  he 
gathers  experience  in  all  ages,  under  all  rulers,  civil- 
izations and  customs,  ever  engaged  in  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  shrine  from  which  he  came.     He  is  now  the 


36  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

ruler  and  now  the  slave;  to-day  at  the  pinnacle  of 
wealth  and  power,  to-morrow  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ladder,  perhaps  in  abject  misery,  but  ever  the  same 
being.  To  symbolize  this,  the  whole  of  India  is  dot- 
ted with  sacred  shrines,  to  which  pilgrimages  are 
made,  and  it  is  the  wish  of  all  men  in  that  so-called 
benighted  land  to  make  such  a  journey  at  least  once 
before  death,  for  the  religious  duties  of  life  are  not 
fully  performed  without  visiting  such  sacred  places. 

One  great  reason  for  this,  given  by  those  who  un- 
derstand the  inner  significance  of  it,  is  that  the  places 
I  of  pilgrimage  are  centers  of  spirituaLforce  from 
/  which  radiate  elevating  influences  not  perceptible  to 
the  pig-sticking,  wine-drinking  trayeller.  It  is  as- 
serted by  many,  indeed,  that  aT  most  of  the  famous 
places  of  pilgrimage  there  is  an  Adept  of  the  same 
order  to  which  the  Theosophical  Adepts  are  said  to 
belong,  who  is  ready  always  to  give  some  meed  of 
spiritual  insight  and  assistance  to  those  of  pure  heart 
who  may  go  there.  He,  of  course,  does  not  reveal 
himself  to  the  knowledge  of  the  people,  because  it  is 
quite  unnecessary,  and  might  create  the  necessity  for 
his  going  elsewhere.  Superstitions  have  arisen  from 
the  doctrine  of  pilgrimages,  but,  as  that  is  quite 
likely  to  come  about  in  this  age,  it  is  no  reason  why 
places  of  pilgrimage  should  be  abolished,  since,  if  the 
spiritual  centers  were  withdrawn,  good  men  who  are 
free  from  superstition  would  not  receive  the  benefits 
they  now  may  have.  The  Adepts  founded  these 
places  in  order  to  keep  alive  in  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple the  soul  idea  which  modern  Science  and  educa- 
tion would  soon  turn  into  agnosticism,  were  they  to 
prevail  unchecked. 

But  the  disciple  of  the  Adept  knows  that  the  place 
of  pilgrimage  symbolizes  his  own  nature,  shows  him 
how  he  is  to  start  on  the  scientific  investigation  of  it 
and  how  to  proceed,  by  what  roads  and  in  which  di- 
rection.    He  is  supposed  to  concentrate  into  a  few 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  37 

lives  the  experience  and  practice  which  it  takes  ordi- 
nary men  countless  incarnations  to  acquire.  His 
first  steps,  as  well  as  his  last,  are  on  difficult,  often 
dangerous  places;  the  road,  indeed,  "winds  up  hill 
all  the  way,"  and  upon  entering  it  he  leaves  behind 
the  hope  for  reward  so  common  in  all  undertakings. 
Nothing  is  gained  by  favor,  but  all  depends  upon 
his  actual  nterit.  As  the  end  to  be  reached  is  self- 
dependence  with  perfect  calmness  and  clearness,  he 
is  from  the  beginning  made  to  stand  alone,  and  this 
is  for  most  of  us  a  difficult  thing  which  frequently 
brings  on  a  kind  of  despair.  Men  like  companion- 
ship, and  cannot  with  ease  contemplate  the  possi- 
bility of  being  left  altogether  to  themselves.  So,  in- 
stead of  being  constantly  in  the  company  of  a  lodge 
of  fellow-apprentices,  as  is  the  case  in  the  usual  world- 
ly secret  society,  he  is  forced  to  see  that,  as  he  en- 
tered the  world  alone,  he  must  learn  to  live  there  in 
the  same  way,  leaving  it  is  he  came,  solely  in  his  own 
company.  But  this  produces  no  selfishness,  because, 
being  accompanied  by  constant  meditation  upon  the 
unseen,  the  knowledge  is  acquired  that  the  loneliness 
felt  is  only  in  respect  to  the  lower,  personal,  worldly 
self.  * 

Another  rule  this  disciple  must  follow  is  that  no 
boasting  may  be  indulged  in  on  any  occasion,  and 
this  gives  us  the  formula  that,  given  a  man  who 
speaks  of  his  powers  as  an  Adept  or  boasts  of  his 
progress  on  the  spiritual  planes,  we  can  be  always 
sure  he  is  neither  Adept  nor  disciple.  There  have 
been  those  in  the  Theosophical  Society  who  gave  out 
to  the  world  that  they  were  either  Adepts  in  fact  or 
very  near  it,  and  possessed  of  great  powers.  Under 
our  formula  it  follows  that  they  were  mere  boasters, 
with  nothing  behind  their  silly  pretensions  but  vanity 
and  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  weakness  as  well  as  the 
gullibility  of  human  nature ;  upon  the  latter  they  play 
for  either  their  profit  or  pleasure.     But,  hiding  them- 


38'  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

selves  under  an  exterior  which  does  not  attract  at- 
tention, there  are  many  of  the  real  disciples  in  the 
world.  They  are  studying  themselves  and  other 
human  hearts.  They  have  no  diplomas,  but  there 
resides  in  them  a  consciousness  of  constant  help  and 
a  clear  knowledge  of  the  true  Lodge  which  meets  in 
real  secrecy  and  is  never  found  mentioned  in  any 
directory.  Their  whole  life  is  a  persistent  pursuit  of 
the  fast-moving  soul  which,  although  appearing  to 
stand  still,  can  distance  the  lightning;  and  their 
death  is  only  another  step  forward  to  greater  know- 
ledge through  better  physical  bodies  in  new  lives, 

XIV. 

T  ooKiNG  back  into  the  past  the  nineteenth-century 
^  historian  finds  his  sight  speedily  striking  a  mist 
and  at  last  plunging  into  inky  darkness.  Bound 
down  in  fact  by  the  influence  of  a  ridiculous  dogma- 
tism which  allows  only  some  six  thousand  j^ears  for 
man's  life  on  earth,  he  is  unwilling  to  accept  the  old 
chronologies  of  the  Egyptians  or  Hindus,  and,  while 
permitting  the  assumption  of  vast  periods  for  geo- 
logical changes,  he  is  staggered  by  a  few  millions  of 
years  more  or  less  when  they  are  added  to  the  length 
of  time  during  which  humanity  has  peopled  the 
globe.  The  student  of  Theosophy,  however,  sees  no 
reason  why  he  should  doubt  the  statement  made  by 
his  teachers  on  this  subject.  He  knows  that  the  pe- 
riods of  evolution  are  endless.  These  are  called 
Manvantaras,  because  they  are  between  two  Manus, 
or,  two  men. 

These  periods  may  be  called  waves  whose  succes- 
sion has  no  cessation.  Each  grand  period,  including 
within  it  all  the  minor  evolutions,  covers  311,040,- 
000,000,000  human  years;  under  a  single  Manu  the 
human  years  come  and  go,  306,720,000  in  number, 
and  the  lesser  yugas — or  ages — more  immediately 
concerning   us,  comprise  of   solar   years   4,320,000. 


ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT.  39 

During  these  solar  revolutions  the  human  races  sweep 
round  and  round  this  planet.  Cave-dwellers,  lake- 
dwellers  and  those  of  a  neolithic  or  any  other  age 
appear  and  disappear  over  and  over  again,  and  in 
each  of  those  we  who  now  read,  write  and  think  of 
them  were  ourselves  the  very  Egos  whose  past  we 
are  trying  to  trace. 

But,  going  deep  into  geological  strata,  the  doubt  of 
man's  existence  contemporaneously  with  the  plesio- 
saurus  arises  because  no  fossil  genus  homo  is  discov- 
ered in  the  same  stratum.  It  is  here  that  the 
theories  of  the  Theosophist  come  in  and  furnish  the 
key.  Those  hold  that  before  man  developed  any 
physical  body  he  clothed  himself  with  an  astral  form ; 
and  this  is  why  H.  P.  Blavatsky  writes  in  her  Secret 
Doctrifie :  "it  teaches  the  birth  of  the  astral  before 
the  physical  body,  the  former  being  the  model  for  the 
latter."  At  the  time  of  the  huge  antediluvian  ani- 
mals they  absorbed  in  their  enormous  bodies  so 
much  of  the  total  quantity  of  gross  matter  available 
for  frames  of  sentient  beings  that  the  astral  man  re- 
mained without  a  corporeal  frame,  as  yet  unclothed 
"with  coats  of  skin."  For  this  reason  he  could  ex- 
ist in  the  same  place  with  those  huge  birds  and  rep- 
tiles without  fear.  Their  massive  proportions  in- 
spired him  with  no  terror,  and  by  their  consumption 
of  food  there  was  no  lessening  of  his  sustenance. 
And,  therefore,  being  of  such  a  composition  that  he 
left  no  impression  upon  mud  or  plastic  rock,  the 
death  of  one  astral  body  after  another  left  no  fossil 
and  no  mark  to  be  unearthed  by  us  in  company  with 
the  very  beasts  and  birds  which  were  his  contem- 
poraries. 

Man  was  all  this  time  acquiring  the  power  to  clothe 
himself  with  a  dense  frame.  He  threw  off  astral 
bodies  one  after  another,  in  the  ceaseless  pursuit, 
each  effort  giving  him  a  little  more  density.  Then 
he  began  to  cast  a  shadow,  as  it  were,  and  the  vast, 


4©  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

unwieldy  animal  world — and  others  as  well — felt 
more  and  more  the  draughts  made  upon  it  by  the 
coming  man.  As  he  thickened  they  grew  smaller, 
and  his  remains  could  not  be  deposited  in  any  stratum 
until  such  time  as  he  had  grown  to  sufficient  hard- 
ness. But  our  modern  anthropologists  have  not  yet 
discovered  when  that  was.  They  are  ready  enough 
to  make  definite  statements,  but,  learned  as  they  are, 
there  are  surprises  awaiting  them  not  so  far  off. 

While,  therefore,  our  explorers  are  finding,  now 
and  then,  the  remains  of  animals  and  birds  and  rep- 
tiles in  strata  which  show  an  age  far  greater  than 
any  assigned  to  the  human  race,  they  never  come 
upon  human  skeletons.  How  could  man  leave  any 
trace  at  a  stage  when  he  could  not  press  himself  into 
the  clay  or  be  caught  by  soft  lava  or  masses  of  vol- 
canic dust?  I  do  not  mean,  however,  to  say  that  the 
period  of  the  plesiosaurus  is  the  period  of  the  man 
of  astral  body  devoid  of  a  material  one.  The  ques- 
tion of  exact  period  may  well  be  left  for  a  more  de- 
tailed account ;  this  is  only  to  point  to  the  law  and  to 
the  explanation  for  the  non-appearance  of  man's  re- 
mains in  very  early  geologic  strata.  But  the  The- 
osophic  Adepts  insist  that  there  are  still  in  the  earth 
bony  remains  of  man,  which  carry  his  first  appear- 
ance in  a  dense  body  many  millions  of  years  farther 
back  than  have  yet  been  admitted,  and  these  remains 
will  be  discovered  by  us  before  much  time  shall  have 
rolled  away. 

One  of  the  first  results  of  these  discoveries  will  be 
to  completely  upset  the  theory  as  to  the  succession  of 
ages,  as  I  may  call  it,  which  is  given  and  accepted  at 
the  present  time,  and  also  the  estimation  of  the  va- 
rious civilizations  that  have  passed  from  the  earth  and 
left  no  trace  except  in  the  inner  constitution  of  our- 
selves— for  it  is  held  that  we  are  those  very  persons^  now 
in  different  bodies,  who  so  long  ago  lived  and  loved 
and  died  upon  the  planet.    We  began  to  make  Karma 


ECHOES    FROM     THE    ORIENT.  4I 

then  and  have  been  under  its  influence  ever  since, 
and  it  seems  fitting  that  that  great  doctrine  should 
be  taken  up  at  another  time  for  a  more  careful  exam- 
ination. 

XV. 

T^HE  Oriental  doctrine  of  reward  and  punishment  of 
■  -^  the  human  Ego  is  very  different  from  the  the- 
ological scheme  accepted  throughout  Christendom, 
since  the  Brahmins  and  Buddhists  fix  the  place  of 
punishment  and  compensation  upon  this  earth  of 
ours,  while  the  Christian  removes  the  "bar  of  God" 
to  the  hereafter.  We  may  not  profitably  stop  to 
argue  upon  logic  with  the  latter ;  it  will  be  sufficient 
to  quote  to  them  the  words  of  Jesus,  St.  Matthew, 
and  the  Psalmist.  ' '  With  what  measure  ye  mete,  it 
shall  be  measured  unto  you  again,"  said  Jesus;  and 
Matthew  declares  that  for  every  word,  act,  and 
thought  we  shall  have  to  answer,  while  David,  the 
royal  poet,  sang  that  those  who  serve  the  Lord  should 
never  eat  beggar's  bread.  We  all  know  well  that  the 
first  two  declarations  do  away  with  the  vicarious 
atonement;  and  as  for  the  Jewish  singer's  notion,  it 
is  negatived  every  day  in  any  city  of  either  hemi- 
sphere. 

Among  the  Ceylonese  Buddhists  the  name  of  the 
doctrine  is  Kamma;  with  the  Hindus  it  is  Karma. 
Viewed  in  its  religious  light,  it  "is  the  good  and  bad 
deeds  of  sentient  beings,  by  the  infallible  influence 
or  efficacy  of  which  those  beings  are  met  with  due 
rewards  or  punishment,  according  as  they  deserve, 
in  any  state  of  being."*  When  a  being  dies,  he 
emits,  as  it  were,  a  mass  of  force  or  energy,  which 
goes  to  make  up  the  new  personality  when  he  shall 
be  reincarnated.  In  this  energy  is  found  the  sum- 
mation of  the  life  just  given  up,   and  by  means  of 

*  The  Rev.  T  P.  Terunnanse,  High-Priest  at  Dodanduwa, 
Ceylon, 


42  ECHOES    FROM     THE    ORIENT, 

it   the   Ego  is  forced  to  assume  that  sort  of  body 
among   those   appropriate   circumstances   which  to- 
gether are  the  means  for  carrying  out  the  decrees  of. 
Karma. 

Hence  hell  is  not  a  mythical  place  or  condition  af- 
ter death  in  some  unknown  region  specially  set  apart 
by  the  Almighty  for  the  punishment  of  his  children, 
but  is  in  very  truth  our  own  globe,  for  it  is  on  the 
earth,  in  earth-lives  experienced  in  human  bodies, 
that  we  are  punished  for  bad  deeds  previously  done, 
and  meet  with  happiness  and  pleasure  as  rewards  for 
old  merit. 

When  one  sees,  as  is  so  common,  a  good  man  suf- 
fering much  in  his  life,  the  question  naturally  arises, 
"Has  Karma  anything  to  do  with  it,  and  is  it  just 
that  such  a  person  should  be  so  afflicted?"  For  those 
who  believe  in  Karma  it  is  quite  just,  because  this 
man  in  a  previous  life  must  have  done  such  acts  as 
deserve  punishment  now.  And,  similarly,  the  wicked 
man  who  is  free  from  suffering,  happy  and  pros- 
perous, is  so  because  in  a  previous  existence  he  had 
been  badly  treated  by  his  fellows  or  had  experienced 
much  suffering.  And  the  perfect  justice  of  Karma 
is  well  illustrated  in  his  case  because,  although  now 
favored  by  fortune,  he,  being  wicked,  is  generating 
causes  which,  when  he  shall  be  reborn,  will  operate 
then  to  punish  him  for  his  evil-doing  now. 

Some  may  suppose  that  the  Ego  should  be  pun- 
ished after  death,  but  such  a  conclusion  is  not  logical. 
For  evil  deeds  cojiwiitted  here  on  the  objective  plane  could 
not  with  any  scientific  or  moral  propriety  be  pii7iished  on  a 
plane  which  is  purely  subjective.  And  such  is  the  reason 
why  so  many  minds,  both  of  the  young  and  old,  have 
rejected  and  rebelled  against  the  doctrine  of  a  hell- 
fire  in  which  they  would  be  eternally  punished  for 
commission  of  sin  on  earth.  Even  when  unable  to 
formulate  the  reason  in  metaphysical  terms,  they  in- 
stinctively knew  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  re- 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  43 

move  the  scene  of  compensation  from  the  very  place 
where  the  sin  and  confusion  had  been  done  and 
created.  When  the  disciples  of  Jesus  asked  him  if 
the  man  who  was  born  blind  was  thus  brought  into 
the  world  for  some  sin  he  had  committed  they  had  in 
mind  this  doctrine  of  Karma,  just  as  all  the  Hindus 
and  Buddhists  have  when  they  see  some  of  their  fel- 
lows crippled  or  deformed  or  deprived  of  sight. 

The  theory  above  hinted  at  of  the  person  at  death 
throwing  out  from  himself  the  new  personality,  so  to 
speak,  ready  to  await  the  time  when  the  Ego  should 
return  to  earth  seeking  a  new  body,  is  a  general  law 
that  operates  in  a  great  many  other  instances  besides 
the  birth  or  death  of  a  being.  It  is  that  which  is 
used  by  the  Theosophists  to  explain  the  relations  be- 
tween the  moon  and  the  earth.  For,  as  the  moon  is 
held  by  them  to  be  the  planet  on  which  we  lived  be- 
fore reaching  the  earth  and  before  there  was  any 
such  earth  whatever;  and  that,  when  our  so-called 
satellite  came  to  die,  all  the  energy  contained  in  it 
was  thrown  out  into  space,  where  in  a  single  vortex 
it  remained  until  the  time  came  for  that  energy  to  be 
again  supplied  with  a  body — this  earth— so  the  same 
law  prevails  with  men,  the  single  units  in  the  vast 
aggregate  which  is  known  among  advanced  Theos- 
ophists as  the  great  Manu.  Men  being,  as  to  their 
material  envelope,  derived  from  the  moon,  must  fol- 
low the  law  of  their  origin,  and  therefore  the  Bud- 
dhist priest  says,  as  quoted:  "At  the  death  of  a 
being  nothing  goes  out  from  him  to  the  other  world 
for  his  rebirth ;  but  by  the  efficacy — or,  to  use  a  more 
figurative  expression,  by  the  ray — of  influence  which 
Kamma  emits,  a  new  being  is  produced  in  the  other 
world  very  identical  with  the  one  who  died  away," 
for  in  this  *'new  being"  is  held  all  the  life  of  the 
deceased.  The  term  "being,"  as  applied  to  it  may 
be  taken  by  us  with  some  qualification.  It  is  more 
properly  a  mass  of  energy  devoid  of  conscience  and 


44  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

crowded  with  desires  of  the  person  from  whom  it  ema- 
nated ;  and  its  special  province  is  to  await  the  return 
of  the  individuality  and  form  for  that  the  new  body  in 
which  it  shall  suffer  or  enjoy.  Each  man  is  therefore 
his  own  creator  under  the  great  Cosmic  laws  that 
control  all  creations.  A  better  term  in  place  of 
"creation"  is  "evolution,"  for  we,  from  life  to  life, 
are  engaged  in  evolving  out  of  the  material  provided 
in  this  Manvantara  new  bodies  at  every  turn  of  the 
wheel  of  rebirth.  The  instruments  we  use  in  this 
work  are  desire  and  will.  Desire  causes  the  will  to 
fix  itself  on  objective  life;  in  that  plane  it  produces 
force  and  out  of  that  comes  matter  in  its  objective 
form. 

XVI. 

\/ery  many  Western  people  say  that  this  Oriental 
^  doctrine  of  Karma  is  difficult  to  understand,  be- 
ing fit  only  for  educated  and  thoughtful  persons.  But 
in  India,  Ceylon  and  Burmah,  not  to  mention  other 
Asiatic  countries,  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  ac- 
cept and  seem  to  understand  it.  The  reason  for  this 
lies  probably  in  the  fact  that  they  also  firmly  believe 
in  Reincarnation,  which  may  be  said  to  be  the  twin 
doctrine  to  Karma.  Indeed,  the  one  cannot  be  prop- 
erly considered  without  keeping  the  other  in  view, 
for  Karma — whether  as  punishment  or  reward — could 
have  no  actual  or  just  operation  upon  the  Ego  unless 
the  means  for  its  operation  were  furnished  by  Rein- 
carnation. 

Our  deserts  are  meted  out  to  us  while  we  are  asso- 
ciating in  life  with  each  other,  and  not  while  We  are 
alone,  nor  in  separateness.  If  being  raised  to  power 
in  a  nation  or  becoming  possessed  of  wealth  is  called 
a  reward,  it  would  lose  all  value  were  there  no  people 
to  govern  and  no  associated  human  beings  with  and 
upon  whom  we  could  spend  our  wealth  and  who 
might  aid  us  in  satisfying  our  manifold  desires.     And 


ECHOES    FROM     THE    ORIENT.  45 

SO  the  law  of  Reincarnation  drags  ns  into  life  again 
and  again,  bringing  with  us  uncounted  times  the  va- 
rious Egos  whom  we  have  known  in  prior  births. 
This  is  in  order  that  the  Karma — or  causes — gener- 
ated in  company  with  those  Egos  may  be  worked 
out,  for  to  take  us  off  separately  into  an  unknown 
hell,  there  to  receive  some  sort  of  punishment,  or  into 
an  impossible  serio-comic  heaven  to  meet  our  reward, 
would  be  as  impossible  as  unjust.  Hence,  no  just- 
hanged  murderer  absolved  by  priest  or  praising  Jesus 
can  escape.  He,  together  with  his  victim,  must  re- 
turn to  this  earth,  each  to  aid  the  other  in  adjusting 
the  disturbed  harmony,  during  which  process  each 
makes  due  compensation.  With  this  doctrine  we  re- 
store justice  to  her  seat  in  the  governance  of  men, 
for  without  it  the  legal  killing  of  the  murderer  after 
condemnation  is  only  a  half  remedy,  since  no  pro- 
vision is  made  by  the  State  for  the  being  hurled  out 
of  the  body  nor  for  the  dependants  he  may  have  left 
behind,  and,  still  further,  nothing  is  done  for  those 
who  in  the  family  of  the  murderer  survive  him. 

But  the  Theosophical  sages  of  all  ages  push  the 
doctrine  of  Karma  beyond  a  mere  operation  upon  in- 
carnated men.  They  view  all  worlds  as  being  bound 
together  and  swayed  by  Karma.  As  the  old  Hindu 
book,  the  Bhagavad-  Gitd,  says,  ' '  all  worlds  up  to 
that  of  Brahma  are  subject  to  Karma."  Hence  it 
acts  on  all  planes.  So  viewing  it,  they  say  that  this 
world  as  it  is  now  conditioned  is  the  actual  result  of 
what  it  came  to  be  at  the  beginning  of  the  pralaya 
or  grand  death  which  took  place  billions  upon  billions 
of  years  ago.  That  is,  the  world  evolves  just  as  man 
does.  It  is  born,  it  grows  old,  it  dies,  and  it  is  rein- 
carnated. This  goes  on  many  times,  and  during 
those  incarnations  it  suffers  and  enjoys  in  its  own  way 
for  its  previous  evolutions.  For  it  the  reward  is  a 
greater  advance  along  the  line  of  evolution,  and  the 
punishment  is  a  degraded  state.     Of  course,  as  I  said 


46  ECHOES    FROM     THE    ORIENT. 

in  a  former  article,  these  states  have  man  for  their 
object  and  cause,  for  he  is  the  crown  of  all  evolution. 
And,  coming  down  from  the  high  consideration  of 
great  cosmic  spaces  and  phenomena,  the  Theosophist 
is  taught  to  apply  these  laws  of  Karma  and  Reincar- 
nation to  every  atom  in  the  body  in  especial  and  apart 
from  the  total  Karma.  Since  we  are  made  up  of  a 
mass  of  lives,  our  thoughts  and  acts  affect  those  atoms 
or  lives  and  impress  them  with  a  Karma  of  their  own. 
As  the  Oriental  thinkers  say,  ' '  not  a  moment  passes 
without  some  beings  coming  to  life  in  us,  acquiring 
Karma,  dying,  and  being  reincarnated. " 

The  principal  divisions  of  Karma  are  three  in  num- 
ber. One  sort  is  that  now  operating  in  the  present 
life  and  body,  bringing  about  all  the  circumstances 
and  changes  of  life.  Of  this  we  see  illustrations 
every  day,  with  now  and  then  strange  climaxes  which 
throw  upon  the  doctrine  the  brightest  light.  One 
such  is  immortalized  in  India  by  a  building  erected 
by  the  favored  son  of  fortune,  as  we  would  say,  and 
thus  it  came  about.  A  Rajah  had  a  very  strange 
dream,  so  affecting  that  he  called  upon  his  sooth- 
sayers for  interpretation.  They  said  that  their  hor- 
oscopes showed  he  was  required  next  day  to  give  an 
immense  sum  of  money  to  the  first  person  he  should 
see  after  awaking,  their  intention  being  to  present 
themselves  at  an  early  hour.  Next  day  the  King 
arose  unusually  early,  stepped  to  his  window,  threw 
it  open,  and  there  before  him  was  a  chandalah  sweep- 
ing up  the  dirt.  To  him  he  gave  a  fortune,  and  thus 
in  a  moment  raised  him  to  affluence  from  abject  pov- 
erty. The  chandalah  then  built  a  huge  building  to 
commemorate  his  sudden  release  from  the  grinding 
chains  of  poverty. 

Another  class  of  Karma  is  that  which  is  held  over 
and  not  now  in  operation  because  the  man  does  not 
furnish  the  appropriate  means  for  bringing  it  into 
action.     This  may  be  likened  to  vapor  held  in  sus- 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  47 

pension  in  the  atmosphere  and  not  visible  to  the  eye, 
but  which  will  fall  as  rain  upon  the  earth  the  moment 
conditions  are  ripe. 

The  last  chief  class  is  that  Karma  which  we  are 
making  now,  and  which  will  be  felt  by  us  in  future 
births.  Its  appropriate  symbol  is  the  arrow  shot  for- 
ward in  the  air  by  the  archer. 


XVII, 


T 


HE  Spirit  is  not  affected  by  Karma  at  any  time  or 
under  any  circumstances,  and  so  the  Theosoph- 
ical  Adepts  would  not  use  the  terms  ' '  cultivation  of 
the  Spirit."  The  Spirit  in  man,  called  by  them  Ish- 
wara^  is  immutable,  eternal  and  indivisible — the  fun- 
damental basis  of  all.  Hence  they  say  that  the  body 
and  all  objects  are  impermanent  and  thus  deluding 
to  the  soul  whenever  they  are  mistaken  for  reality. 
They  are  only  real  on  and  for  this  plane  and  during 
the  time  when  the  consciousness  takes  them  up  here 
for  cognition.  They  are  therefore  relatively  real 
and  not  so  in  an  absolute  sense.  This  can  easily 
be  proved  from  dreams.  In  the  dream  state  we  lose 
all  knowledge  of  the  objects  which  while  awake  we 
thought  real  and  proceed  to  suffer  and  enjoy  in  that 
new  state.  In  this  we  find  the  consciousness  apply- 
ing itself  to  objects  partaking  of  course  of  the  nature 
of  the  experiences  of  the  waking  condition,  but  at 
the  same  time  producing  the  sensations  of  pleasure 
and  pain  while  they  last.  Let  us  imagine  a  person's 
body  plunged  in  a  lethargy  extending  over  twenty 
years  and  the  mind  undergoing  a  pleasant  or  un- 
pleasant dream,  and  we  have  a  life  just  of  that  sort, 
altogether  different  from  the  life  of  one  awake.  For 
the  consciousness  of  this  dreamer  the  reality  of  ob- 
jects known  during  the  waking  state  is  destroyed. 
But  as  material  existence  is  a  necessary  evil  and  the 
one  in  which  alone  emancipation  or  salvation  can  be 
obtained,  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  and  hence 


48  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

Karma  which  governs  it  and  through  whose  decrees 
emancipation  may  be  reached  must  be  well  under- 
stood and  then  be  accepted  and  obeyed. 

Karma  will  operate  to  produce  a  deformed  or  de- 
ficient body,  to  give  in  a  good  body  a  bad  disposition 
or  vice  versa  ;  it  will  cause  diseases,  hurts  or  annoy- 
ances, or  bring  about  pleasures  and  favorable  situa- 
tions for  the  material  frame.  So  we  sometimes  find 
with  a  deformed  or  disagreeable  body  a  most  en- 
lightened and  noble  mind.  In  this  case  the  physical 
Karma  is  bad  and  the  mental  good. 

This  leads  us  to  the  sort  of  Karma  that  works 
upon  the  mental  plane.  At  the  same  time  that  an 
unfavorable  Karmic  cause  is  showing  forth  in  the 
physical  structure  another  and  better  sort  is  working 
out  in  the  mind  and  disposition  or  has  eventuated  in 
conferring  a  mind  well  balanced,  calm,  cheerful, 
deep,  and  brilliant.  Hence  we  disco vor  a  purely 
physical  as  compared  with  an  entirely  mental  Karma. 
Purely  physical  would  be  that  resulting,  say  from  a 
removal  from  the  ground  of  fruit  peel  which  might 
otherwise  cause  some  unknown  person  to  fall  and  be 
hurt.  Purely  mental  might  be  due  to  a  life  spent  in 
calm,  philosophical  thought  and  the  like. 

There  is  in  one  of  the  Hindu  books  a  strange  sen- 
tence respecting  this  part  of  the  subject,  reading: 
' '  Perfection  of  body  or  superhuman  powers  are  pro- 
duced by  birth  or  by  herbs  or  by  incantations,  pen- 
ances, or  meditations. " 

Among  mental  afflictions  esteemed  as  worse  than 
any  bodily  hurt  or  loss  is  that  Karma  from  a  preced- 
ing life  which  results  in  obscurity  of  such  a  character 
that  there  is  a  loss  of  all  power  to  conceive  of  the 
reality  of  Spirit  or  the  existence  of  soul — that  is,  ma- 
terialism. 

The  last  field  of  operation  for  this  law  may  be  said 
to  be  the  psychical  nature.  Of  this  in  America  we 
have  numerous  examples  in  mediums,   clairvoyants, 


ECHOES   FROM    THE   ORIENT.  49 

clairaudients,  mind-readers,  hysteriacs,  and  all  sorts 
of  abnormal  sensitives.  There  could  be  no  clair- 
voyant according  to  the  Oriental  scheme  if  the  person 
so  afflicted,  using  as  I  think  the  proper  term,  had  not 
devoted  much  of  previous  lives  to  a  one-sided  de- 
velopment of  the  psychical  nature  resulting  now  in 
powers  which  make  the  possessor  an  abnormality  in 
society. 

A  very  strange  belief  of  the  Hindiis  is  that  one 
which  allows  the  possibility  of  a  change  of  state  by 
a  mortal  of  such  a  character  that  the  once  man  be- 
comes a  Deva  or  lesser  god.  They  divide  nature  into 
several  departments,  in  each  of  which  are  conscious 
powers  or  entities  called  Devas^  to  put  it  roughly. 
Yet  this  is  not  so  far  apart  from  the  ideas  of  some  of 
our  best  scientific  men  who  have  said  there  is  no 
reason  why  in  each  ray  of  the  spectrum  there  may 
not  be  beings  to  us  unseen.  Many  centuries  ago  the 
Hindu  thinker  admitted  this,  and  pushing  further  on 
declared  that  a  man  might  through  a  certain  sort  of 
Karma  become  one  of  these  beings,  with  correspond- 
ing enjoyment  and  freedom  from  care,  but  with  the 
certainty,  however,  of  eventually  changing  back 
again  to  begin  the  weary  round  of  birth  over  again. 

What  might  be  called  the  doctrine  of  the  nullifi- 
cation of  Karma  is  an  application  in  this  department 
of  the  well-known  law  in  physics  which  causes  an 
equilibrium  when  two  equal  forces  oppose  each  other. 
A  man  may  have  in  his  Karmic  account  a  very  un- 
pleasant cause  and  at  the  same  time  a  cause  of  op- 
posite character.  If  these  come  together  for  ex- 
pression at  the  same  time  they  may  so  counteract 
each  other  as  that  neither  will  be  apparent  and  the 
equilibrium  is  the  equivalent  of  both.  In  this  way 
it  is  easy  to  understand  the  Biblical  verse:  "Charity 
covereth  a  multitude  of  sins,"  as  referring  to  the  pal- 
liative effect  of  charitable  deeds  as  opposed  to  deeds 
of  wickedness,  and  giving  a  reason  for  the  mediaeval 


5©  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

knight  devoting  some  of  the  years  of  his  Hfe  to  alms- 
giving. 

In  the  Bhagavad-Gftd,  a  book  revered  by  all  in 
India,  the  highest  place  is  given  to  what  is  called 
Karma-  Yoga  or  the  Religion  of  the  Performance  of 
Works  and  Duty,  and  there  it  is  said:  "  He  who,  un- 
attached to  the  fruits  of  his  actions,  performs  such 
actions  as  must  be  done,  is  both  renouncer  and  dev- 
otee ;  not  he  who  kindles  no  sacrificial  fires  and  per- 
forms no  ceremonies.  He  who  remains  inert,  re- 
straining the  organs  of  action,  and  pondering  with 
his  heart  on  objects  of  sense,  is  called  a  false  pietist 
of  bewildered  soul.  But  he  who,  restraining  his 
senses  by  his  heart  and  being  free  from  interest  in 
acting,  undertakes  active  devotion  through  the  or- 
gans of  action,  is  praiseworthy." 

XVIII. 

npHAT  the  doctrine  of  Karma  is  unjust,  imsympa- 
*  thetic,  and  fatalistic  has  been  claimed  by  those 
who  oppose  it,  but  such  conclusions  are  not  borne 
out  by  experience  among  those  races  who  believe  in 
it,  nor  will  the  objections  stand  a  close  examination. 
The  Hindus  and  Buddhists  thoroughly  believe  in 
Karma,  convinced  that  no  one  but  themselves  pun- 
ishes or  rewards  in  this  or  any  life,  yet  we  do  not  find 
them  cold  or  unsympathetic.  Indeed,  in  the  rela- 
tions of  life  it  is  well  known  that  the  Hindu  is  as  lov- 
ing and  tender  as  his  American  brother,  and  there 
are  as  many  instances  of  heroic  self-sacrifice  in  their 
history  as  in  ours.  Some  go  further  than  this  and 
say  that  the  belief  in  Karma  and  Reincarnation  has 
made  the  Hindu  more  gentle  in  his  treatment  of  men 
and  animals  than  are  the  Europeans,  and  more  spir- 
itual in  his  daily  life.  Going  deeper  into  their  his- 
tory, the  belief  in  Karma  is  found  side  by  side  with 
material  works  of  great  magnitude,  and  whose  re- 
mains to  this  day  challenge  our  wonder,  admiration, 


ECHOES    FROM   THE  ORIENT.  ^1 

and  respect;  it  is  doubtful  whether  we  could  ever 
show  such  triumphs  over  nature  as  can  be  seen  at  any 
time  in  the  rock-cut  temples  of  Hindustan.  So  it 
would  appear  that  this  doctrine  of  ours  is  not  likely 
to  produce  bad  or  enervating  effects  upon  the  people 
who  accept  it. 

'.'But,"  says  an  objector,  "it  is  fatalism.  If  Kar-  i 
ma  is  Karma,  if  I  am  to  be  punished  in  such  aud  such  / 
a  manner,  then  it  will  come  about  so  whether  I  will  or  / 
not,  and  hence  I  must,  like  the  Turk,  say  'Kismet,* 
and  do  nothing."  Now,  although  the  Mohammed- 
an doctrine  of  Kismet  has  been  abused  as  fatalism, 
pure  and  simple,  it  was  not  so  held  by  the  Prophet 
nor  by  his  greatest  disciples,  for  they  taught  that  it 
was  law  and  not  fate.  And  neither  is  Karma  ame- 
nable to  this  objection.  In  the  minds  of  those  who, 
having  vaguely  apprehended  Karma  as  applying  to 
one  life  only,  do  not  give  the  doctrine  its  true  majestic, 
endless  sweep,  fatalism  is  the  verdict.  When,  on  the 
other  hand,  each  man  is  seen  as  the  fashioner  ofjthe 
fate  for  his  next  fleeting  earth  personality,  there  can 
be  no  fatality  in  it,  because  in  his  own  hand  is  the 
decree.  He  set  in  motion  the  causes  which  will  in- 
evitably have  certain  results.  Just  as  easily  he  could 
have  made  different  causes  and  thus  brought  about 
different  results. 

That  there  are  a  repeilant  coldness  and  want  of 
tenderness  in  a  doctrine  which  thus  deals  out  inflex- 
ible justice  and  compels  us  to  forever  lose  our  friends 
and  beloved  relatives,  once  death  has  closed  the  door, 
is  the  feeling  of  a  few  who  make  sentiment  their 
rule  in  life.  But  while  sentiment  and  our  own  wishes  :<^ 
are  nj^t  the  guiding  laws  of  nature,  there  is  no  reason 
even  on  the  sentimental  ground  for  this  objection ;  it 
is  due  to  a  partial  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  which, 
when  fully  known,  is  found  to  be  as  full  of  opportun- 
ity for  the  exercise  of  what  is  dear  to  the  heart  as 
any  other  theory  of  life.     The  .same  law  that  throws 


^2  ECHOES    FROM    THE   ORIENT. 

US  into  life  to  suffer  or  enjoy,  as  may  be  deserved, 
decrees  that  the  friends  and  the  relatives  who  are 
like  unto  each  other  must  incarnate  together,  until 
by  reason  of  differentiation  of  character  they  cannot 
under  any  law  of  attraction  remain  in  company.  Not 
unless  and  until  they  become  different  do  they  separ- 
ate from  each  other.  And  who  would  wish  to  be 
eternally  tied  to  the  side  of  uncongenial  relatives  or 
acquaintances  merely  because  there  was  an  accident 
of  birth! 

For  our  aid  also  this  law  works  well  and  cease- 
lessly. "Those  whom  you  help  will  help  you  in 
other  lives,"  is  the  declaration.  In  ages  past  perhaps 
we  knew  those  who  long  since  have  passed  up  to 
greater  heights.  The  very  moment  in  the  long  series 
of  incarnations  we  come  near  to  where  they  are  pur- 
suing their  pilgrimage,  they  at  once  extend  assist- 
ance, whether  that  be  on  the  material  or  moral 
planes.  And  it  makes  no  difference  whether  one  or 
the  other  is  aware  of  who  is  assisting  or  who  is  being 
assisted.  Inflexible  law  guides  the  current  and  brings 
about  the  result.  Thus  the  members  of  the  whole 
human  family  reciprocally  act  on  one  another,  forced 
into  it  by  a  law  which  is  as  kind  as  it  is  great,  which 
turns  the  contempt  we  bore  in  the  past  into  present 
honor  and  opportunity  to  help  our  fellows. 
-f-  There  is  no  favoritism  possible  in  nature;  no  man 
has  any  privilege  or  gift  which  he  has  not  deserved, 
either  as  a  reward  or  a  compensation.  Looking  at 
the  present  life  spread  before  our  limited  vision,  we 
may  see  perhaps  no  cause  why  there  should  be  any 
such  reward  to  an  unworthy  man,  but  Karma  never 
errs  and  will  surely  repay.  And  it  not  only  rewards, 
but  to  it  solely  belong  those  compensations  which  we 
with  revenge  attempt  to  mete  out.  It  is  with  this  in 
view  that  the  holy  writ  of  the  Christians  says,  "Ven- 
geance is  mine;  I  will  repay,"  for  so  surely  as  one 
hurts  another  so  is  the  certainty  of  Karma  striking 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT,  53 

the  offender ; — but  let  the  injured  one  beware  that  he 
does  not  desire  the  other  punished,  for  by  Karma 
will  he  be  punished  also.  So  from  all  this  web  of 
life  and  ceaselessly  revolving-  wheel,  Karma  furnishes 
the  escape  and  the  means  of  escape,  and  by  reincar- 
nation we  are  given  the  time  for  escape. 

XIX. 

j  N  the  Egyptian  Book  of  the  Dead,  chapter  x  describes 
*  the  place  where,  after  death,  disembodied  souls 
remain  in  different  degrees  of  perfection.  Some 
are  shown  as  taking  wheat  three  cubits  high,  while 
others  are  only  permitted  to  glean  it — "he  gleaned 
the  fields  of  Aanroo. "  Thus  some  enjoy  the  perfec- 
tion of  spiritual  bliss,  while  others  attain  only  to 
minor  degrees  in  that  place  or  state  where  divine 
justice  is  meted  out  to  the  soul. 

Devachan  is  the  land  of  reward;  the  domain  of 
spiritual  effects.  The  word  spiritual  here  refers  to 
disembodiment;  it  must  only  be  used  as  relative  to 
our  material  existence.  The  Christian  demonstrates 
this  fact  by  the  material  entourage  of  his  heaven.  In 
the  Secret  Doctrine,  H.  P.  Blavatsky  says:  "'Death 
itself  is  unable  to  deliver  man  from  it  [Karma],  since 
death  is  simply  the  door  through  which  he  passes  to 
another  life  on  earth,  after  a  little  rest  on  its  thresh- 
old— Devachan."  Devachan,  then,  is  the  threshold 
of  life.  In  the  Hindii  system  it  is  etymologically  the 
place  of  the  gods,  Indra's  heaven.  Indra  is  the  re- 
gent of  heaven,  who  gives  to  those  who  can  reach 
his  realm  long-enduring  gifts  of  happiness  and  do- 
minion. The  B/iavagad-Gitd  ^2iys\  "After  enjoying 
felicity  for  innumerable  years  in  the  regions  of  In- 
dra, he  is  born  again  upon  this  earth.'' 

For  the  x^urpose  of  this  article,  we  assume  that  the 
entire  man,  minus  the  body,  goes  into  Devachan. 
This,  however,  is  not  so.  The  post- mortefu  division  of 
our  sevenfold  constitution  given  by  Theosophy  is 


54  ECHOfiS   FROM    THE   ORlENt. 

exact.  It  exhibits  the  basis  of  life,  death  and  rein- 
carnation. It  shows  the  composite  being,  man,  in 
analogy  with  that  other  composite  being,  nature. 
Both  are  a  unity  in  diversity.  Man,  suspended  in 
nature,  like  her,  divides  and  retinites.  This  seven- 
fold division  will  be  treated  in  a  future  article. 

Devachan,  being  a  state  of  prolonged  subjective 
happiness  after  the  death  of  the  body,  is  plainly  the 
heaven  of  the  Christian,  but  with  a  difference.  It 
is  a  heaven  made  scientifically  possible.  Heaven  it- 
self must  accord  with  the  divine  laws  projected  into 
nature.  As  sleep  is  a  release  from  the  body,  during 
which  we  have  dreams,  so  death  is  a  complete  sepa- 
ration and  release,  after  which  in  Devachan  we  dream; 
until,  on  being  again  incarnated  in  a  new  body  on 
earth,  we  come  once  more  into  what  we  call  waking| 
existence.  Even  the  human  soul  would  weary  of  the 
ceaseless  round  of  rebirths,  if  some  place  or  state 
were  not  provided  in  which  rest  could  be  obtained ; 
in  which  germinating  aspirations,  restricted  by  earth- 
life,  could  have  their  full  development.  No  energy 
can  be  annihilated,  least  of  all  a  psychic  energy; 
these  must  somewhere  find  an  outlet.  It  is  found 
in^Devachan;  this  realization  is  the  rest  of  the  soul. 
Its  deepest  desires,  its  highest  needs  are  there  en- 
joyed. There  every  hope  blooms  out  in  full  and 
glorious  flower.  To  prolong  'this  blissful  state,  Hin- 
du books  give  many  incantations  and  provide  innu- 
merable ceremonies  and  sacrifices,  all  of  them  hav- 
ing for  end  and  aim  a  long  stay  in  Devachan.  The 
Christian  does  precisely  the  same.  He  longs  for 
heaven,  prays  that  he  may  go  there,  and  offers  up  to 
his  God  such  propitiatory  rites  and  acts  as  seem  best 
to  him,  the  only  difference  being  that  he  does  not  do 
it  half  so  scientifically  as  the  Hindi!.  The  Hindu  is 
also  more  vivid  in  his  conception  of  this  heaven  than 
the  Christian  is.  He  postulates  many  places  or  con- 
ditions adapted  to  the  energic  and  qualitative  differ- 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  55 

ences  between  souls.  Kama-loka  and  other  states 
are  where  concrete  desires,  restricted  by  life  in  the 
body,  have  full  expression,  while  in  Tribuvana  the 
abstract  and  benevolent  thinkers  absorb  the  joys  of 
lofty  thought.  The  orthodox  heaven  has  no  such 
proviso.  It  also  ignores  the  fact  that  a  settled  mo- .' 
notony  of  celestial  existence  would  exhaust  the  soul| 
— would  be  stagnation,  not  growth.  Devachanic  life 
is  development  of  aspiration,  passing  through  the 
various  stages  of  gestation,  birth,  cumulative  growth, 
downward  momentum  and  departure  to  another  con- 
dition, all  rooted  in  joy.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
mere  fact  of  death  to  mould  a  soul  anew.  It  is  a 
group  of  psychic  energies,  and  heaven  must  have 
something  in  common  with  these,  or  why  should  it 
gravitate  there?  Souls  differ  as  men  do.  In  Deva-  \ 
chan  each  one  receives  that  degree1)f  bliss  which 
it  can  assimilate;  its  own  development  determines 
its  reward.  The  Christian  places  all  the  snuffy  old  • 
saints  as  high  as  other  holy  souls,  sinking  genius  to 
the  level  of  the  mediocre  mass,  while  the  Hindu 
gives  infinite  variety  of  occupation  and  existence 
suited  to  grave  and  gay,  the  soul  of  genius  or  of 
poetry.  No  one  sits  in  undesired  seats,  nor  sings 
psalms  he  never  liked,  nor  lives  in  a  city  which  might 
pall  upon  him  if  he  were  forever  compelled  to  walk 
its  pearly  streets.  The  laws  of  cause  and  effect  for- 
bid that  Devachan  should  be  monotonous.  Results 
are  proportionate  to  antecedent  energies.  The  soul 
oscillates  between  Devachan  and  earth-life,  finding 
in  each  conditions  suited  to  its  continuous  develop- 
ment, until,  through  effort,  it  reaches  a  perfection  in 
which  it  ceases  to  be  the  subject  of  the  laws  of  action 
and  reaction,  becoming  instead  their  conscious  co- 
worker. 

Devachan  is  a  dream,  but  only  in  the  sense  in 
which  objective  life  can  be  called  such.  Both  last 
until  Karma  is  satisfied  in  one  direction,  and  begins  I 


56  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

to  work  in  the  other.  The  Devachanee  has  no  idea 
of  space  or  time  except  such  as  he  makes  for  hitn- 
self.  He  creates  his  own  world.  He  is  with  all  he 
ever  loved,  not  in  bodily  companionship,  but  in  one 
to  him  real,  close  and  blissful.  When  a  man  dies,  ^ 
/  the  brain  dies  last.  Life  is  still  busy  there  after 
death  has  been  announced.  The  soul  marshals  up 
all  past  events,  grasps  the  sum  total,  the  average 
/tendency  stands  out,  the  ruling  hope  is  seen.  Their 
i  final  aroma  forms  the  keynote  of  Devachanic  exis- 
tence. The  lukewarm  man  goes  neither  to  heaven 
nor  hell.  Nature  spews  him  out  of  her  mouth.  Pos- 
itive conditions,  objective  or  subjective,  are  only 
reached  through  positive  impulsion.  Devachanic  dis- 
tribution is  governed  by  the  ruling  motive  of  the 
soul.  The  hater  may,  by  reaction,  become  the 
lover,  but  the  indifferent  have  no  propulsion,  no 
growth. 

XX. 

It  is  quite  evident  to  the  unprejudiced  inquirer  that 
Christian  priests  for  some  reason  or  other  studi- 
ously ignore  the  composite  nature  of  man,  although 
their  great  authority,  St.  Paul,  clearly  refers  to  it. 
\  He  spoke  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  they  only  preach 
j  of  body -and  soul;  he  declared  we  had  a  spiritual 
body,  they  remain  misty  as  to  the  soul's  body  and 
cling  to  an  absurd  resurrection  of  the  material  cask-, 
et.  It  became  the  duty  of  Theosophists  to  draw  the 
attention  of  the  modern  mind  once  more  to  the  Ori- 
ental division  of  man's  constitution,  for  through  that 
alone  can  an  understanding  of  his  state  before  and 
after  death  be  attained.  The  division  laid  down  by 
St.  Paul  is  threefold,  the  Hindii  one  is  of  a  sevenfold 
character.  St.  Paul's  is  meant  for  those  who  require 
broad  outlines,  but  do  not  care  to  inquire  into  details. 
Spirit,  soul,  and  body,  however,  include  the  whole 
seven  divisions,  the  latter  being  a  more  complete  an- 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  57 

alysis;  and  it  is  suspected  by  many  deep  thinkers 
that  Paul  knew  the  complete  system  but  kept  it  back 
for  good  reasons  of  his  own. 

An  analysis  of  body  discloses  more  than  mere  mo- 
lecular structure,  for  it  shows  a  force  or  life  or  power 
that  keeps  it  together  and  active  throughout  its  nat- 
ural period.  Mr.  Sinnett,  in  his  Esoteric  Buddhism^ 
attempting  to  bring  to  his  countrymen  some  know- 
ledge of  the  Eastern  system,  called  this  Prdna  or 
/wa;  others,  however,  call  it  Prdna  alone,  which 
seems  more  appropriate,  because  the  human  as- 
pect of  the  life  force  is  dependent  upon  Prdna^  or 
breath. 

The  spirit  of  St.  Paul  may  be  taken  for  our  pur- 
poses to  be  the  Sanskrit  Atmd.  Spirit  is  universal, 
indivisible,  and  common  to  all.  In  other  words,  there 
are  not  many  spirits,  one  for  each  man,  but  solely 
one  spirit  which  shines  upon  all  men  alike,  finding  as 
many  souls — roughly  speaking — as  there  are  beings 
in  the  world.  In  man  the  spirit  has  a  more  complete 
instrument  or  assemblage  of  tools  with  which  to 
work.  This  spiritual  identity  is  the  basis  of  the  phi- 
losophy; upon  it  the  whole  structure  rests;  to  indi- 
vidualize spirit,  assigning  to  each  human  being  his 
own  spirit,  particular  to  him  and  separate  from  the 
spirit  of  any  other  man,  is  to  throw  to  the  ground 
the  whole  Theosophic  philosophy,  will  nullify  its 
ethics  and  defeat  its  object. 

Starting,  then,  with  Atmd — spirit — as  including  the 
whole,  being  its  basis  and  support,  we  find  the  Hindu 
offering  the  theory  of  sheaths  or  covers  of  the  soul 
or  inner  man.  These  sheaths  are  necessary  the  mo- 
ment evolution  begins  and  visible  objects  appear,  so 
that  the  aim  of  the  soul  may  be  attained  in  conjunc- 
tion with  nature.  In  this  way,  through  a  process 
which  would  be  out  of  place  here,  a  classification  is 
arrived  at  by  means  of  which  the  phenomena  of  life 
and  consciousness  may  be  explained. 


58  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

The  six  vehicles  (adopting  Mr.  Sinnett's  nomen- 
clature) used  by  the  spirit  and  by  means  of  which 
the  Ego  gains  experience  are : 

Body^  as  a  gross  vehicle. 

Vitality^  or  Prdna. 

Astral  Body,  or  Linga  ^artra. 

Animal  Soul,  or  Kama  Rilpa. 

Human  Soul,  or  Manas. 

Spiritual  Soul,  or  Buddhi. 

The  Linga  ^arira  is  needed  as  a  more  subtle  body 
than  the  corporeal  frame,  because  the  latter  is  in 
fact  only  stupid,  inert  matter.  Kama  Riipa  is  the 
body,  or  collection,  of  desires  and  passions;  Manas 
may  be  properly  called  the  mind,  and  Buddhi  is  the 
highest  intellection  beyond  brain  or  mind.  It  is  that 
which  discriminates. 

At  the  death  of  the  body,  Prdna  flies  back  to  the 
reservoir  of  force ;  the  astral  body  dissipates  after  a 
longer  period  and  often  returns  with  Kama  Riipa 
when  aided  by  certain  other  forces  to  seance-rooms, 
where  it  masquerades  as  the  deceased,  a  continual 
lie  and  ever-present  snare.  The  human  and  the  spir- 
itual soul  go  into  the  state  spoken  of  before  as  Deva- 
chan  or  heaven,  where  the  stay  is  prolonged  or  short 
according  to  the  energies  appropriate  to  that  state 
generated  during  earth-life.  When  these  begin  to 
exhaust  themselves  the  Ego  is  gradually  drawn  back 
to  earth-life,  where  through  human  generation  it 
takes  up  a  new  body,  with  another  astral  body,  vital- 
ity, and  animal  soul. 

This  is  the  *' wheel  of  rebirth,"  from  which  no 
man  can  escape  unless  he  conforms  to  true  ethics  and 
acquires  true  knowledge  and  consciousness  while 
living  in  a  body.  It  was  to  stop  this  ceaselessly  re- 
volving wheel  that  Buddha  declared  his  perfect  law, 
and  it  is  the  aim  of  the  true  Theosophist  to  turn  his 
great  and  brilliant  "Wheel  of  the  Law"  for  the  heal- 
ing of  the  nations. 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  59 


XXI. 


H' 


iGH  in  the  esteem  of  the  Hindu  stands  the  ser- 
pent, both  as  a  symbol  and  a  creature.  Moving 
in  a  wavy  line,  he  figures  the  vast  revolution  of  the 
Sun  through  eternal  space  carrying  the  rapidly  whirl- 
ing Earth  in  her  lesser  orbit ;  periodically  casting  his 
skin,  he  presents  a  visible  illustration  of  renewal  of 
life  or  reincarnation ;  coiling  to  strike,  he  shows  the 
working  of  the  law  of  Karma-Nemesis  which,  with 
a  basis  in  our  actions,  deals  an  unerring  blow.  As  a 
symbol  with  tail  in  mouth,  forming  a  circle,  he  rep- 
resents eternity,  the  circle  of  necessity,  all-devouring 
Time.  For  the  older  Initiates  he  spoke  to  them  also 
of  the  astral  light  which  is  at  once  devilish  and  divine. 
Probably  in  the  whole  field  of  Theosophic  study 
there  is  nothing  so  interesting  as  the  astral  light. 
Among  the  Hindus  it  is  known  as  Akasa,  which  can 
also  be  translated  as  sether.  Through  a  knowledge 
of  its  properties  they  say  that  all  the  wonderful  phe- 
nomena of  the  Oriental  Yogis  are  accomplished.  It 
is  also  claimed  that  clairvoyance,  clairaudience,  me- 
diumship,  and  seership  as  known  to  the  Western 
world  are  possible  only  through  its  means.  It  is  the 
register  of  our  deeds  and  thoughts,  the  great  picture 
gallery  of  the  earth,  where  the  seer  can  always  gaze 
upon  any  event  that  has  ever  happened,  as  well  as 
those  to  come.  Swimming  in  it  as  in  a  sea  are  be- 
ings of  various  orders  and  also  the  astral  remains  of 
deceased  men  and  women.  The  Rosicrucians  and 
other  European  mystics  called  these  beings  Sylphs, 
Salamanders,  Gnomes,  Undines,  Elementals;  the 
Hindil  calls  them  Gandharbhas  or  celestial  musicians, 
Yakshas,  Rakshasas  and  many  more.  The  ' '  spooks  " 
•  of  the  dead — mistaken  by  Spiritualists  for  the  indi- 
viduals who  are  no  more — float  in  this  Akasic  sub- 
stance, and  for  centuries  have  been  known  to  the 
mystical  Hindu  as  Bhuta,  another  name  for  devil,  or 


6o  ECHOES   FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

Pisacha,  a  most  horrible  devil ;  neither  of  them  any 
more  than  the  cast-off  soul-body  nearest  earth',  de- 
void of  conscience  and  only  powerful  for  evil. 

But  the  term  "astral  light,"  while  not  new,  is  pure- 
ly of  Occidental  origin.  Porphyry  spoke  of  it  when 
referring  to  the  celestial  or  soul-body,  which  he  says 
is  immortal,  luminous,  and  "star-like;"  Paracelsus 
called  it  the  "sidereal  light;"  later  it  grew  to  be 
known  as  astral.  It  was  said  to  be  the  same  as  the 
anima  mundi  or  soul  of  the  world.  Modern  scientific 
investigators  approach  it  when  they  speak  of  "lumin- 
iferous  ether"  and  "radiant  matter."  The  great 
astronomer,  Camille  Flammarion,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  Theosophical  Society  during  his  life,  speaks  oi\ 
the  astral  light  in  his  novel  Uranie  and  says:  "The 
light  emanating  from  all  these  suns  that  people  im- 
mensity, the  light  reflected  through  space  by  all  these 
worlds  lighted  by  these  suns,  photographs  throughout 
the  boundless  heaven  the  centuries,  the  days,  the 
moments  as  they  pass.  .  .  .  From  this  it  results 
that  the  histories  of  all  the  worlds  are  travelling 
through  space  without  dispersing  altogether,  and  that 
all  the  events  of  the  past  are  present  and  live  ever- 
more in  the  bosom  of  the  infinite." 

Like  all  unfamiliar  or  occult  things  the  astral  light 
is  difficult  to  define,  and  especially  so  from  the  very 
fact  that  it  is  called  "light."  It  is  not  the  light  as 
we  know  it,  and  neither  is  it  darkness.  Perhaps  it 
was  said  to  be  a  light  because  when  clairvoyants  saw 
by  means  of  it,  the  distant  objects  seemed  to  be  il- 
luminated. But  as  equally  well  distant  sounds  can 
be  heard  in  it,  heavy  bodies  levitated  by  it,  odors 
carried  thousands  of  miles  through  it,  thoughts  read 
in  it,  and  all  the  various  phenomena  by  mediums 
brought  about  under  its  action,  there  has  been  a  use 
of  the  term  "light"  which  while  unavoidable  is  none 
the  less  erroneous. 

A  definition  to  be  accurate  must  include  all  the 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  6 1 

functions  and  powers  of  this  light,  but  as  those  are 
not  fully  known  even  to  the  mystic,  and  wholly  terra 
incognita  for  the  scientist,  we  must  be  content  with  a 
partial  analysis.  It  is  a  substance  easily  imagined  as 
imponderable  ether  which,  emanating  from  the  stars, 
envelopes  the  earth  and  permeates  every  atom  of  the 
globe  and  each  molecule  upc^  it.  Obeying  the  laws 
of  attraction  and  repulsion,  it  vibrates  to  and  fro, 
making  itself  now  positive  and  now  negative.  This 
gives  it  a  circular  motion  which  is  symbolized  by  the 
serpent.  It  is  the  great  final  agent,  or  prime  mover, 
cosmically  speaking,  which  not  only  makes  the  plant 
grow  but  also  keeps  up  the  diastole  and  systole  of 
the  human  heart. 

Ver}^  like  the  action  of  the  sensitive  photographic 
plate  is  this  light.  It  takes,  as  Flammarion  says,  the 
pictures  of  every  moment  and  holds  them  in  its  grasp. 
For  this  reason  the  Egyptians  knew  it  as  the  Record- 
er; it  is  the  Recording  Angel  of  the  Christian,  and 
in  one  aspect  it  is  Yama,  the  judge  of  the  dead  in 
the  Hindu  pantheon,  for  it  is  by  the  pictures  we  im- 
press therein  that  we  are  judged  by  Karma. 

As  an  enormous  screen  or  reflector  the  astral  light 
hangs  over  the  earth  and  becomes  a  pow^erful  uni- 
versal hypnotizer  of  human  beings.  The  pictures  of 
all  acts  good  and  bad  done  by  our  ancestors  as  by 
ourselves,  being  ever  present  to  our  inner  selves,  we 
constantly  are  impressed  by  them  by  way  of  sug- 
gestion and  go  then  and  do  likewise.  Upon  this 
the  great  French  priest-mystic,  Eliphas  Levi,  says: 
'  *  We  are  often  astonished  when  in  society  at  being 
assailed  by  evil  thoughts  and  suggestions  that  we  j 
would  not  have  imagined  possible,  and  we  are  not 
aware  that  we  owe  them  solely  to  the  presence  of 
/  some  morbid  nefghbor ;  this  fact  is  of  great  impor- 
tance, since  it  relates  to  the  manifestation  of  con- 
science— one  of  the  most  terrible  and  incontestable 
secrets  of  the  magic  art.     ...     So  diseased  souls 


62  ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT. 

have  a  bad  breath,  and  vitiate  the  moral  atmosphere ; 
that  is  to  say,  they  mingle  impure  reflections  with  the 
astral  light  which  penetrates  them,  and  thus  estab- 
lish deleterious  currents."* 

There  is  also  a  useful  function  of  this  light.  As 
it  preserves  the  pictures  of  all  past  events  and 
things,  and  as  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun, 
the  appliances,  the  ideas,  the  philosophy,  the  arts 
and  sciences  of  long  buried  civilizations  are  contin- 
ually being  projected  in  pictures  out  of  the  astral 
into  the  brains  of  living  men.  This  gives  a  meaning 
not  only  to  the  oft-recurring  "coincidence"  of  two 
or  more  inventors  or  scientists  hitting  upon  the  same 
ideas  or  inventions  at  about  the  same  time  and  inde- 
pendently of  each  other,  but  also  to  other  events 
and  curious  happenings. 

Some  self-styled  scientists  have  spoken  learnedly 
of  telepathy,  and  other  phenomena,  but  give  no  suf- 
ficient reason  in  nature  for  thought-transference  or 
apparitions  or  clairvoyance  or  the  hundred  and  one 
varieties  of  occurrences  of  an  occult  character  no- 
ticed from  day  to  day  among  all  conditions  of  men. 
It  is  well  to  admit  that  thought  may  be  transferred 
without  speech  directly  from  one  brain  to  another, 
but  how  can  the  transference  be  effected  without  a 
medium?  That  medium  is  the  astral  light.  The 
moment  the  thought  takes  shape  in  the  brain  it  is 
pictured  in  this  light,  and  from  there  is  taken  out 
again  by  any  other  brain  sensitive  enough  to  receive 
it  intact. 

Knowing  the  strange  properties  of  the  astral  plane 
and  the  actual  fate  of  the  sheaths  of  the  soul  spoken 
of  in  another  article,  the  Theosophical  Adepts  of  all 
times  gave  no  credit  to  pretended  returning  of  the 
dead.  Eliphas  Levi  learned  this  well  and  said: 
"The   astral  light  combining  with  ethereal   fluids 

*  Dogma  et  Ritual  de  Haute  Magie. 


ECHOES    FROM    THE    ORIENT.  6^ 

forms  the  astral  phantom  of  which  Paracelsus  speaks. 
This  astral  body  being  freed  at  death,  attracts  to 
itself  and  preserves  for  a  long  time,  by  the  sympathy 
of  likesness,  the  reflection  of  the  past  life;  if  a 
powerfully  sympathetic  will  draws  it  into  the  proper 
current  it  manifests  itself  in  the  form  of  an  appari- 
tion."  But  with  a  sensitive,  abnormally  constituted 
person  present — a  medium,  in  other  words,  and  all  of 
that  class  are  nervously  unbalanced — the  strong  will 
is  not  needed,  for  the  astral  light  and  the  living  me- 
dium's astral  body  recall  these  soulless  phantoms, 
and  out  of  the  same  reservoir  take  their  speech,  their 
tones,  their  idiosyncrasies  of  character,  which  the  de- 
luded devotees  of  this  debasing  practice  are  cheated 
into  imagining  as  the  returned  self  of  dead  friend  or 
relative. 

Yet  all  I  have  referred  to  here  are  only  instances 
of  a  few  of  the  various  properties  of  the  astral  light. 
vSo  far  as  concerns  our  world  it  may  be  said  that  as- 
tral light  is  everywhere,  interpenetrating  all  things ; 
to  have  a  photographic  power  by  which  it  grasps  pic- 
tures of  thoughts,  deeds,  events,  tones,  sounds,  col- 
ors, and  all  things ;  reflective  in  the  sense  that  it  re- 
flects itself  into  the  minds  of  men;  repellant  from 
its  positive  side  and  attractive  from  the  negative; 
capable  of  assuming  extreme  density  when  drawn  in 
around  the  body  by  powerful  will  or  by  abnorm- 
al bodily  states,  so  that  no  physical  force  can  pene- 
trate it.  This  phase  of  its  action  explains  some  facts 
officially  recorded  during  the  witchcraft  excitement 
in  Salem.  It  was  there  found  that  although  stones 
and  other  flying  objects  came  toward  the  possessed 
one  they  always  fell  as  it  were  from  the  force  of 
gravity  j'usf  at  the  person s  feet.  The  Hindu  Yogi 
gives  evidence  of  a  use  of  this  condensation  of  the 
astral  light  when  he  allows  arrows  and  other  pro- 
jectiles to  be  thrown  at  him,  all  of  them  falling  at  his 
feet  no  matter  how  great  their  momentum,  and  the 


64  ECHOES   FROM    THE   ORIENT. 

records  of  genuine  Spiritualistic  phenomena  in  thef 
United  States  furnish  similar  experiences.  / 

The  astral  light  is  a  powerful  factor,  unrecognizea 
by  science,  in  the  phenomenon  of  hypnotism.  Its 
action  will  explain  many  of  the  problems  raised  by 
Binet,  Charcot  and  others,  and  especially  that  class 
in  which  two  or  more  distinct  personalities  seem  to 
be  assumed  by  the  subject,  who  can  remember  in 
each  only  those  things  and  peculiarities  of  expression 
which  belong  to  that  particular  stratum  of  their  ex- 
perience. These  strange  things  are  due  to  the  cur- 
rents in  the  astral  light.  In  each  current  will  be 
found  a  definite  series  of  reflections,  and  they  are 
taken  up  by  the  inner  man,  who  reports  them  through 
speech  and  action  on  this  plane  as  if  they  were  his 
own.  By  the  use  of  these  currents  too,  but  uncon- 
sciously, the  clairvoyants  and  clairaudients  seem  to 
read  in  the  hidden  pages  of  life. 

This  light  can  therefore  be  impressed  with  evil  or 
good  pictures,  and  these  are  reflected  into  the  sub- 
conscious mind  of  every  human  being.  If  you  fill 
the  astral  light  with  bad  pictures,  just  such  as  the 
present  century  is  adept  at  creating,  it  will  be  our 
devil  and  destroyer,  but  if  by  the  example  of  even 
a  few  good  men  and  women  a  new  and  purer  sort  of 
events  are  limned  upon  this  eternal  canvas,  it  will 
become  our  Divine  Uplifter. 


The  Theosophical  Society: 

HOW    TO    JOIN     IT. 

'T^His  Society  is  not  a  secret  or  political  organization. 
It  was  founded  in  New  York  in  November,  1875. 
Its  objects  are  : 

First. — To  form  a  nucleus  of  a  Universal  Broth- 
erhood OF  Humanity,  without  distinction  of  race, 
creed,  or  color. 

Second.  — To  promote  the  study  of  Aryan  and  other 
Eastern  literatures,  religions,  and  sciences,  and  dem- 
onstrate the  importance  of  that  study. 

Third. — To  investigate  unexplained  laws  of  nature 
and  the  psychical  powers  latent  in  man. 

The  Society  appeals  for  support  and  encourage- 
ment to  all  who  truly  love  their  fellow-men  and  de- 
sire the  eradication  of  the  evils  caused  by  the  barriers 
raised  by  race,  creed,  or  color,  which  have  so  long 
impeded  human  progress ;  to  all  scholars,  to  all  sin- 
cere lovers  of  truth,  wheresoever  it  may  be  foutid^  and 
to  all  philosophers,  alike  in  the  East  and  in  the  West ; 
and  lastly,  to  all  who  aspire  to  higher  and  better 
things  than  the  mere  pleasures  and  interests  of  a 
worldly  life,  and  are  prepared  to  make  the  sacrifices 
by  which  alone  a  knowledge  of  them  can  be  attained. 

The  Headquarters  are  at  Adyar,  a  suburb  of  Mad- 
ras, India,  where  the  Society  has  a  property  of 
twenty-seven  acres  and  extensive  buildings,  includ- 
ing one  for  the  Oriental  Library  and  a  spacious  hall 


66     THE    THEOSOPHICAL    SOCIETY:    HOW    TO    JOIN    IT. 

wherein  the  General  Council  meets  annually  in  Con- 
vention, on  the  27th  of  December. 

The  Society  is  composed  of  its  Branches  and  mem- 
bers, and  is  divided  into  four  Sections,  /.  ^.,  India, 
Ceylon,  Europe,  and  America.  Each  Section  is 
autonomous  and  governs  the  Branches  in  its  jurisdic- 
tion without  interference  from  Headquarters,  provid- 
ed only  that  the  fundamental  rules  of  the  Society  are 
not  violated.  All  Branches  in  America  and  the  West 
Indies  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  American 
Section;  these  are  all  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
General  Convention  held  in  India. 

The  President  of  the  Society  is  Col.  H.  S.  Olcott, 
in  India ;  the  Corresponding  Secretary  is  H.  P. 
Blavatsky,  London;  the  Vice-President,  William  Q. 
Judge,  New  York. 

Throughout  the  world  there  are  about  180  Branches. 

The  American  Section  includes  at  this  date  the  42 
Branches  in  the  United  States,  in  the  principal  cities. 

Members  are  either  Branch  members  or  members- 
at-large,  the  latter  being  those  who  are  not  in 
Branches. 

The  Annual  Convention  of  the  American  Section 
is  held  on  the  fourth  Sunday  of  April.  At  each  Con- 
vention an  Executive  Committee  is  elected,  and  dur- 
ing the  year  administers  the  affairs  of  the  Section 
under  the  Constitution  and  Laws  passed  in  Conven- 
tion. This  Committee  for  1889-90  is:  Gen.  Abner 
Doubleday,  Mendham,  N.  J.  ;  Dr.  J.  D.  Buck,  124 
W.  7th  St.,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  Alexander  Fullerton, 
Box  2659,  New  York,  N.  Y.  ;  E.  A.  Neresheimer,  21 
Maiden  Lane,  New  York;  Dr.  J.  W.  B.  LaPierre, 
Box  71,  Minneapolis,  Minn.;  Arthur  B.  Griggs, 
Young's  Hotel,  Boston,  Mass. ;  William  Q.  Judge 
(General  Secretary),  Box  2659,  New  York,  N.  Y, 

The  Society's  literature  is  extensive  and  varied. 
There  are  three  magazines  in  English:  T/ie  Theoso- 
phisty  Adyar,  Madras,  India;  monthly,  $5.00  a  year. 


THE    THEOSOPHICAL    SOCIETY:    HOW    TO    JOIN    IT.      6^ 

Lucifer^  7  Duke  St.,  London,  W.  C,  England;  $4.25 
a  year.  The  Path,  132  Nassau  St.,  New  York,  N. 
Y. ;  $2.00  a  year.  Other  periodicals  are  in  Asiatic 
and  other  languages. 

A  circulating  library  of  Theosophical  books  has 
been  established  in  New  York  by  private  subscrip- 
tion, information  as  to  which  can  be  obtained  by  ad- 
dressing ^'Theosophical  Library,  Box  2659,  New 
York  P.  O." 

HOW     TO     JOIN. 

Applicants  become  members  by  entering  a  Branch 
or  by  being  admitted  as  "at  large."  In  each  case  an 
application  has  to  be  signed  and  endorsed  by  two  ac- 
tive members  in  good  standing.  Branch  Presidents,  as 
well  as  Councillors,  the  Executive  Committee,  and  the 
General  Secretary,  have  the  right  to  admit  members- 
at-large.  Applications  to  enter  a  Branch  must  be 
made  to  the  Branch  officers.  Any  member-at-large 
can  affiliate  with  a  Branch  by  which  he  is  acceped, 
and  those  in  Branches  may  sever  that  connection  if 
they  see  fit  and  be  demitted  as  ''  at-large. "  Entrance 
fee  for  members-at-large  is  $2,00,  the  annual  dues 
$1 .  00,  and  the  diploma  fee  50  cents.  Branches  charge 
their  own  dues  in  addition.  All  members  receive 
the  yearly  Report,  such  documents  as  are  from  time 
to  time  issued  from  the  General  Secretary's  office, 
and  a  copy  of  The  Forum,  an  occasional  pamphlet 
containing  questions  and  answers  upon  Theosophical 
topics,  and  which  it  is  intended  to  issue  monthly  as 
near  as  may  be.  They  are  also  entitled  to  the  use 
(under  the  rules)  of  the  Circulating  Theosophical  Li- 
brary established  at  the  Headquarters,  Room  25,  132 
Nassau  St.,  New  York.  Additions  to  this  Library 
are  published  in  The  Path. 

Inquirers  and  applicants  are  requested  to  address 
the  General  Secretary  at  the  address  given  below. 


68     THE    THEOSOPHICAL    SOCIETY:    HOW    TO    JOIN    IT. 

enclosing'  a  stamp,  and  will  receive  receive  from  him 
further  information  or  application  blanks. 

William   Q.  Judge, 

Gen.  Secy  American  Section^ 
P.  O.  Box  2659, 

New  York  City. 


^^   OF  THR         ^ 

^university; 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 

THE  PATH,  a  Monthly  Magazine  devoted  to  the  Broth- 
erhood of  Humanity,  Theosophy  in  America,  and  the  study 
of  Occult  Science,  Philosophy,  and  Aryan  Literature.  Ed- 
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Madame  H.   P.   Blavatsky's  Works. 


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THE  KEY  TO  THEOSOPHY,  a  Clear  Exposi- 
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GEMS  FROM  THE  E  A  S  T ,  a  Theosophical  Birth- 
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THE  YOGA  APHORISMS  OF  PATANJALI. 

American  Edition.     Price:  cloth,  75  cents;  paper,  50  cents. 

A  WORKING  GLOSSARY  fortheUseof  Students 
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ECHOES  FROM  THE  ORIENT,  aBroadOut- 
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THE  BHAGAVAD-GITA.  Dialogues  of  Krishna 
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7". 


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